WebCentral bought out on a high
WebCentral bought out on a high
WebCentral has been bought by FTR Holdings, introducing another exciting chapter in the company's incredible journey from a humble garage start-up company to a multi million dollar success story.
FTR already had 49.4 percent stake in WebCentral when it bought this section of the company in 2000 for AUS$11 million. It has now bought the remaining 50.6 percent for AUS$19.6 million. $18 million will be in cash, two million in FTR shares and another two million in FTR options.
The beneficiaries will be WebCentral's co-founders, Lloyd Ernst, Joe Altoff and Byron Newtown.
David Lammey, the manager of marketing and direct sales at WebCentral talked about the significance of this agreement, considering the company's evolution from its humble beginnings in 1997, when it was a part of PowerUP in a Morningside garage in Brisbane, to its current status as Australia's largest web hosting company.
It reported revenues of AUS$36.9m for 2003-04 and currently hosts more than 60,000 sites and domains for corporation and government departments as well as small and medium businesses: "It's a great story and should be an inspiration of how a small business can start from scratch and become such an incredible success.
"This move is a natural progression for the company. The founders had taken it so far, focusing primarily on the small to medium business sector. Recently WebCentral has entered the enterprise market and has landed deals with Government departments too.
"The acquisition by FTR will equip it now to move even more into this enterprise space, so it is a great fit for everyone involved. The daily operations of WebCentral will not change because FTR is very happy with the results so far, of course."
Analysts are predicting a convergence of key factors to propel the IT industry forward by 2006. These include elements such as increased broadband adoption, ASP maturity, centralised IT and the use of utility computing.
Over the past few years WebCentral has been investing in products and systems that position it will to leverage the range of opportunities presented by this next shift in the IT industry.
Sean Howard, the WebCentral Chairman and Director of FTR added. "WebCentral is Australia's largest managed Internet hosting and solutions service, operating nationally in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane and is the first hosting provider outside of the United States to receive Microsoft's Hosting Service Provider of the year award."
"The market for managed Internet hosting generally is expanding rapidly. Clearly this move will give WebCentral the added substance to reinforce its position as a major supplier and solutions provider, particularly in the corporate and government sectors."
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