Anittel pulls out the chequebook, again

Peter Kazacos expects the acquisitive reseller to be back in black in a year, plans more buys.

Anittel has bought Townsville IBM integrator Future Townsville for an undisclosed sum.

Future customers included Townsville Council and James Cook University. 

It came three weeks after Anittel - last year's CRN Fast50 winner - reported a full-year net loss of  $19.9 million, a result its founder and managing director Peter Kazacos told CRN was largely due to problems related to the absorption of acquisitions over the past few years.

“We underestimated the integration of all the different companies," Kazacos said.

But it was still looking to buy companies in regional Australia to grow its national presence, especially for the delivery of commercial telecommunications services to compete with Telstra.

In the past year, Anittel has bought resellers in regional NSW towns including Albury and Dubbo. 

Kazacos said Anittel was digesting its acquisitions and expected them to make a positive contribution to next year’s bottom line: “We have forecast coming into black in the next 12 months”. 

Key to this were recent key executive appointments including former Kaz Group executive Michael O’Sullivan, Ingram Micro alumni John Walters and industry veteran Chris Calamos as finance director.

Anittel would also also look to improve its auditing processes relating to the assessment of goodwill.

The CRN Fast50 for 2011 closes on October 7 - make sure you submit your entry to http://fast50.crn.com.au