This was one of the companies studied in my MBA. That was back when the shares were less than $1. It is not a business I follow, so I wanted to look and see how much the business had changed. Back about 10 years ago, Data#3 were large resellers with a reasonably small services division. 

The Brisbane based information technology company first listed way back in 1997 and has been operating for more than 35 years. There are also some management that have been there for almost that amount of time. The CEO, who has been in the seat 7 years, has been with the business since inception.

Continuity of management can be a great thing, but it also (potentially) means you get lost in your own ideas. Not pointing to Data#3 with this thought, it is just something I have observed too often. I’ll come back to this.

With revenues now exceeding 1.6B they have done a good job continuing to grow the business. This revenue is more than double since I last looked. It is also good to see they have continued to grow the dividend.

Back 10 years ago they were a large licence reseller. Now they are the largest in Australia. Impressive to retain the mantle for so long. It is through low margin. The service business has been significantly increased.

The business carries almost zero debt.

Back to the management. They are currently executing on a three year strategic plan. Everything contained seems really sensible to me. 

What we are looking at is a modestly growing, sensible, stable business. Employing a thousand or so Australians. This is the kind of business the management team should be proud to run. 

Is it going to shoot the lights out. Probably not. It is going to halve overnight. Doubt it. If that is what you are looking for this one might be suitable.