Assignment Stage 1 (Assessment #1) - draft

ASS1#1 draft

Below are links to my draft word and excel document for viewing.

I need to amend and I am a bit concerned about he KCQ's.  Any comments/constructive criticism would be appreciated. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B3c87pblEyeTiG1Wo1RfcTx8-qEScC_qEjEXJelA_9k/edit?usp=sharing

Company Spreadsheet

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByPK1WGXIEBKaFk0d2NVMl8yeUE/view?usp=sharing

More about NEXTDC

Some more information about my assigned company 

NEXTDC's philosophy is 'Where the cloud lives'. 

I have attached below a link for an interview with Craig Scroggie, CEO of NEXTDC and Juliette Saly of CommSec regarding NEXTDC's expansion plans and the growing demands of the Cloud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITd8K5kmTF0&feature=player_embedded

I personally found this interview helpful for me to get my head around what specific set of services my company provides.

Upon checking for any recent ASX Announcements for NEXTDC I found that in February this year it was announced that NEXTDC signed an agreement with Microsoft to enable direct cloud connectivity to Microsoft Azure (Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure created by Microsoft for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centres) via ExpressRoute from NEXTDC data centres in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth.  This agreement is significant for NEXTDC.

While reading the FY14 for NEXTDC, it was told that NEXTDC had received it's first strike against the 2013 Remuneration Report with Shareholders expressing concerns about NEXTDCs corporate governance and remuneration structures. 

It follows on to inform the reader that efforts were made to engage Stakeholders and consult experts prior to implementing the revised policies and remuneration structures that the Board believed better meet Stakeholder.  The Board went about doing this by significantly enhancing their disclosure the 2014 Remuneration Report as response to feedback received.  I am still unsure what the requirements are to receive a strike and who actually determines/issues the strike.

NEXTDC's share price rising over the last 4 months:
31 December 14   $1.88
23 February 15     $2.18
27 February 15     $2.52
23 March 15         $2.53

Probably a bit too much about me :)

Hi, my name is Kate and I am 33 years young :) I am married and have two beautiful boys. I work full time in a top tier law firm as a Team Administrator.  My days are filled producing large volumes of work, trying to solve my teams problems (sometime successfully, sometimes not), being a PA to my senior author, a sounding board for other secretaries in the property group and answering the call of duty for anything that is required of me.  I am generally mentally exhausted by the end of my working day. 

My first job (yes, working during the day is my second job) which I hands down love much more than my second job, is when I come home from work. 

 

Please meet the two loves of my life.  Master Lewis, almost 10 and Master Grayson, 3.5 years.  These boys certainly do keep my husband and I busy.  My husband stays at home with the boys.  The more I talk to people the more I realise that our situation of me working and my hubby looking after the children is becoming increasingly common.  

 

I am enrolled in the Bachelor of Property externally and I am currently studying part time. I have not studied since I graduated Year 12 in 1998.  To be honest I am nervous that I will not succeed, but I am hoping that I can prove myself wrong.

 

My major concerns are not finding enough time to study and do the extra the activities required/advised but also being too shy to put myself out there (which is part of the reason for studying externally).  Posting on my blog today has really helped me feel more comfortable about my learning so far and introducing myself. 

 

I am now looking forward to meeting new people in this course and over the duration of my degree.

 

 

My 3 favourite blogs

I have actually found it hard to only pick three blogs as my preferred choices.  In no specific order my three picks are:

1.  I really enjoyed reading Lyndelle Forrest's blog.  Lyndelle has a very interesting company, Breville.  Lyndelle's blog was informative and insightful and you could tell she enjoyed writing about it through her blog.  I had learned quite a few things by reading her blog along which interested me to look into her company more also.  A link to her blog is  http://lyndelleforrest.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/hello-fellow-bloggers-today-i-started.html

2.  I came across Jade Tringale's blog as her name kept popping up in the forum.  I appreciated the  honesty of her blog and found it easy to read.  I agree with Jade's initial comments regarding her company.  Upon looking at her company's website I was confused and got bored pretty quick.  A link to her blog is  https://jadetringale.wordpress.com/

3.  Danielle's blog - cantbelieveimbloggingaboutaccounting.  I found Danielle's blog to be entertaining while informative.  I am very interested in Woolworths as a company (like almost everyone else I shop there, regularly!)  and have really enjoyed reading more about them.       https://cantbelieveimbloggingaboutaccounting.wordpress.com/

NEXTDC

I had been pondering over a lot of information to do with my assigned company.  There really is a lot of information to read through, interpret and scale back to provide a quick overview that is hopefully insightful and informative for others that read this.  So, here is my attempt. 

My company is NEXTDC.  NEXTDC is Australian owned and operated and as at March 2012 are listed on the ASX. This company has only been in operation for the last 5 years (FY15 will be their fifth annual report) but appear to be really making their mark among the critical infrastructure providers.

NEXTDC is at the heart of the digital economy.  It hosts a number of leading international and domestic public and provide cloud providers.  Their innovation, scale and increasingly low cost services are fundamental in driving rapid cloud adaptations. 

NEXTDC is operated by a board of directors which during the 2012/2013 financial year underwent a change to introduce more experienced members to really drive the company forward. 

Vision

In 2010, the founder, Bevan Slattery, announced his vision to be 'of building Australia's smartest, most secured, scalable and energy efficient data centres'.  NEXTDC launched in 2010 reporting to be 'Australia's newest carrier and systems integrator neutral national data centre provider'.

https://www.nextdc.com/news-media/news/nextdc-debuts-national-data-centre-operator

In their first Annual Report FY11 Chairman, Roger Clarke confirmed that the NEXTDC had continued to expand aggressively and within a very short time had established a national footprint being Australia's only neutral data centre provider in all major growth markets with strategic footprint. 

https://www.nextdc.com/our-company/about-us/nextdc-brief-history

In 2014 their vision stated that 'Innovation is their key foundation of their growing business'.  FY14 had been transformational with NEXTDC experiencing significant growth across all financial and operating performance metrics.  NEXTDC achieved growth in number of customer utilisation and contracted recurring revenue, revenue pipeline as well as revenue received from data centre services. 

FY14

NEXDC recorded a loss for this period (after tax) of $22,906,000. The loss was attributable to Owners of NEXTDC Limited. However, during this period their data centre services revenue across their 5 operative facilities was up 237%.  The company also raised over $160 million through diversified funding sources (which includes equity holders, bond holders etc).  At 30 June 2014 the company also had over $70 million  in cash and term deposits with access to $20 million form a senior debt facility. 

Forecast

NEXTDC now have all facilities up and running in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth and will be able to generate revenue for the full financial period FY15.  This should hopefully see the company recording a positive cash flow for the first time in their short company history. 

My Comments

It took me a while to understand just what it was that my company did and what services it provided.  Each time I read something new to do with my company I am learning a new fact about them.  Overall, I am happy with this company and have found it interesting to see just how they have gown being only 5 years young.

In all honesty I can be a bit technically challenged when it comes to technology and clouds and all things between.  Even this blog took a few man hours to understand and set up but I's happy to say that I have made it this far. :) 

I am looking forward to checking out their FY15 report to see if their prediction of reporting a positive cash flow is achieved and what they have achieved throughout the year and what their drive/focus will be for FY16.  Figures are looking positive so far, see link below.

https://www.nextdc.com/news/nextdc-announces-first-positive-ebitda-operating-cash-flow