Kordia Group, a leading provider of mission critical connectivity, cyber security and cloud solutions has reported revenue of $148m, EBITDA of $17m and a net profit after tax of $0.3m for the year ended 30 June 2024.
Net profit after tax is down $7m year-on-year due largely to the costs associated with the Public Safety Network (PSN) project. Kordia’s revenue lifted by $3m year-on-year, with the Cyber Security and Cloud divisions standing out as high performers.
“Against a backdrop of economic challenges, the Kordia Group has persevered in its strategy to grow its mission-critical businesses, supporting customers across a broad spectrum of digital, infrastructure and connectivity services and solutions”, says Sophie Haslem, Chair of Kordia Group.
While the financial performance of Kordia's involvement in the PSN work to date has been disappointing, the business has since refined the commercials and the scope of Kordia’s engagement. The Board expects this project will provide a more positive commercial result for Kordia in FY25.
Public Safety Network
Kordia has played a critical role in developing the Public Safety Network’s Land Mobile Radio network, alongside Joint Venture partner Tait Communications.
This is a network of immense importance to New Zealand, providing frontline emergency services with resilient communications that can be relied on even in the event of a natural disaster.
In July 2024, Kordia and Tait agreed to reset the project and its commercials to simplify the vendor's operational and governance decisions. Kordia divested its shares in the Joint Venture company and Tait assumed 100% ownership of the entity contracted to lead the project. As part of the reset, Kordia reduced the contract work in progress by $8.5m.
The new approach sees Tait taking a leading role in delivery, while scaling up resources by onboarding additional parties to speed up the build of the network.
Kordia will continue working on the PSN project as a subcontractor, with a revised scope better suited to the group’s core strengths; providing mission critical build, design, and co-location services.
Kordia continues to play an important role in this project of national significance, utilising its experience and expertise in building critical networks.
Performance Highlights
Kordia’s ongoing focus on growth markets continued to drive positive results in FY24. The company’s Cyber Security and Cloud divisions successfully captured market demand, onboarding new business and maximising cross-selling opportunities within the existing customer base.
Revenues lifted across managed services by 17% year-on-year, however there was a degree of softness in the cyber consultancy space due to challenging economic conditions and public sector cutbacks on external spending.
Connectivity continued to present challenges in FY24. Revenues were flat in a highly competitive market where renewing contracts proved difficult. However, Kordia evolved its product offering with Starlink for business and the AI powered voice platform Dialpad integrated into the company’s solutions.
In FY24, Kordia’s Net Promoter Score was 52, an excellent result by industry standards and demonstration of the company’s commitment to exceptional customer service.
Stability in mission-critical business divisions
Kordia’s Solutions business had a strong FY24 driven by new mission-critical projects, including work building AM infrastructure for Radio NZ, and the installation of a new antenna at Warkworth Satellite station.
The Maritime businesses traded in line with expectations, reflecting the solid underpinning of contracted work. Kordia is responsible for monitoring safety of life communications for almost a quarter of the world’s oceans, and it’s proud of the reliable and robust service it provides on behalf of its partners Maritime NZ and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Kordia’s Media division achieved some pleasing business wins in FY24. A robust schedule of sporting events such as the Summer of Cricket and the FIFA Women’s World Cup led to an active year for the Mobile Media division, providing linking services for local and international broadcasters. Kordia is thrilled to have played a crucial role in delivering top-class broadcast services for live events to audiences in New Zealand and abroad.
After several years’ hiatus from free-to-air TV, Kordia’s Media team partnered with Entain, the operators of Trackside, to broadcast two new channels over the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) network.
Management
On 1 April 2024, following leave due to an injury, Kordia’s Chief Executive Shaun Rendell resigned for medical reasons. Rendell was an immensely valuable part of Kordia for more than a decade. The company is grateful for his service and wishes him the very best.
The Board enacted succession plans and appointed Neil Livingston as interim Group CEO from 2 April 2024.
Livingston is an executive and independent director with more than thirty years’ experience in the technology industry internationally, who was well prepared having served on the Kordia Board over the previous two years. He resigned his Board position to step in to the Group CEO role.
“We have great confidence in Neil’s ability to lead Kordia forward and have been more than impressed with his first five months in the role,” says Haslem.
Our People
Kordia’s reputation as a leading provider of innovative technology solutions can be attributed to its incredible team of close to 500 people.
Safety continues to be top priority and Kordia exceeded its health and safety objectives, with TRIFR comfortably under the goal of five.
This year Kordia was proud to renew its Cyber Academy initiative, designed to develop new talent for an industry in constant need of skilled experts to protect public and private organisations from the ever-increasing threat of cyber-attacks. Seven budding professionals from the Cyber Academy were placed into internships within Kordia’s Cyber Security division.
Kordia prides itself on having a diverse and inclusive workplace. On 1 July 2023, it introduced new parental benefits to support employees as they embark on their parenthood journey. This includes salary top ups of parental leave payments, additional leave for primary and secondary carers, and continuity of KiwiSaver contributions while on maternity or paternity leave. These are important steps towards the commitment to achieving the GenderTick accreditation, which Kordia is on track to achieving in FY25.
Sustainability continues to be an important part of Kordia’s strategy. While plans to further reduce carbon emissions are underway, initiatives such as the implementation of solar at the Wither Hills site in the Tasman region are providing a blueprint for exploring more sustainable energy options in FY25.
Outlook
Looking forward, the focus of the business will be to continue growing its Maritime, Media and Networks business, while also investing in its high growth cloud and cyber security offerings.
“As the constrained economic environment continues to present challenges for all businesses, Kordia will continue to refine and assess its strategy to best respond to market conditions. The reset of the company’s role in the delivery of the PSN will free up resources, giving Kordia more flexibility to pursue new lines of business as well as investing in its existing operations,” says Haslem.
“The next 12 months, the Group will continue to leverage its core strengths and infrastructure expertise to deliver value for our customers, while seeking growth opportunities across all business divisions. Kordia is well-resourced and trusted by our customers to provide best-in-class solutions and services in these key areas of business.
“We are encouraged by the FY25 outlook and look forward to exemplifying what makes Kordia the provider of choice for public and private organisations across the country, as an expert mission-critical technology partner.”
