QM Technologies goes live on stock exchange

The company is one of the big four rivals in the sector – the others are Salmat, HPA and Security Mail, which latter is still privately held. The launch on the stock market follows the stellar rise of Salmat, which went public three years ago and proved to be a darling of the exchange. Artarmon-based QM Technologies manages more than 100 million mostly printed communications between client organisations and their customers each year.

Nick Debenham, managing director at QM Technologies, says he is pleased with how the company performed in the offering, claiming trading has been reasonably vigorous since it was floated on the stock exchange.

"We welcome all new shareholders and thank them for their support and remind them that we are dedicated to growing earnings per share and dividends each year," Debenham says.

"We see many opportunities for future growth, we have a clear strategy and talented hard working team to capture that growth. This is the beginning of an exciting stage in the history and growth of the company."

Around 43 per cent of the 24 million shares have been allocated to institutional investors, with the other 57 per cent going to retail investors. Following its listing, QM now has 44.5 million shares on issue, 53.9 per cent of which are available to new shareholders under the offer.

QM Technologies pulled in revenues of $53.84 million and earnings before tax of $9.50 million in the 2005 financial year, and forecast revenues of $59.01 million and earnings before tax of $11.26 million for 2006, representing growth rates of 9.6 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively.

The company points to a number of strategic decisions as reasons the growth will be sustained, including the leveraging of its software IP to develop new products, potential acquisitions and possible expansion into WA and New Zealand. $4.3 million in proceeds from the initial public will be injected back into the company.