SAP specialist Oxygen appoints new CEO, moves role to Australia
Specialist SAP consulting firm Oxygen Business Solutions has moved its chief executive's role to Australia and in so doing has lost its incumbent CEO, Mike Smith.
Specialist SAP consulting firm Oxygen Business Solutions has moved its chief executive's role to Australia and in so doing has lost its incumbent CEO, Mike Smith.
SAP services provider Oxygen has celebrated its tenth birthday, at the same time as its parent, Australia’s UXC, has taken itself off the market as an acquisition target.
IT services and consulting firm UXC has reported that it is yet to find a willing buyer, ten months on from announcing that it was seeking a buyer, in an effort to unlock greater shareholder value.
UXC owns New Zealand SAP services specialist Oxygen.
In July, UXC said it was in negotiations under due diligence, with an undisclosed party. The negotiations expired that month without result.
At the time it also noted it had entered into a number of talks with “significant parties” around a potential full bid for the company.
The potential sell off of the company was announced in February when UXC commenced a strategic review to examine ways to unlock greater shareholder value for the company, including turning to private equity and a possible demerger.
According to UXC executive chairman Geoff Lord, the company had pursued the strategic review with “great energy and dedication” and despite problems with its discontinued operations, believed the underlying business to be sound.
“If this value can be recognised without a transaction, that remains an option for us,” Lord said in an ASX report.
“The approach we have taken to the strategic review has not lent itself to quick result, but we are determined to provide the best result for our shareholders.
“Discussions continue with three parties, and shareholders will be advised of further progress as and when the board considers potential transactions to be in the best interest of shareholders and stakeholders [and] such potential transaction progress to binding offers.”
The comments follow the reporting of the company’s year to 30 June 2010 results, which include UXC’s business services and professional services groups earnings of $A43 million, up from $33 million for the year to 30 June 2009.
Revenues for the 2010 year were $473 million, up from $456 million the previous year.
UXC, the Australian firm that owns New Zealand SAP services provider Oxygen, is up for sale across the Tasman.
SAP specialist Oxygen will post a record financial year at the end of June, says chief executive Mike Smith.
“We’ve beaten our revenue target by 12% and our profit target by 10%,” he says.
Oxygen chief executive Mike Smith says its recent purchase of Intaact, a small SAP specialist company in Australia, is likely to be followed by two more Australian purchases before June, one in Canberra and one in Sydney.
SAP specialist Oxygen has opened a Wellington office, appointing former EDS executive Chris Holmes to head the capital presence.
As datacentres become hotter and more dense with servers, a greater chance for fire exists. But there's equipment on the market that applies a well-known method of halting fire: starving it of oxygen.
UXC expects the acquisition of Oxygen to boost its revenues by A$20-25 million (NZ$22–28 million) annually, executive chairman Geoff Lord says.
The Christmas-New Year period is usually a quiet one for the local IT industry and most people who work in it take a well-deserved holiday over that time.
Australian technology services company, UXC, has purchased SAP services company Oxygen, a division of New Zealand-based Carter Holt Harvey.
Oxygen is in the final stages of negotiating a deal to be acquired, says managing director Mike Smith.
$3 million deal over nine years
Television New Zealand has exercised a contract option to extend its two-year outsourcing contract with Oxygen Business Solutions for a further year.
Oxygen beefing up business development