Spark New Zealand Ltd (ASX: SPK) has just announced an acquisition, is it the best New Zealand company?
On 31 March 1987, the New Zealand Post Office was split into three state-owned enterprises including ‘Telecom’. In that same year, Telecom launched New Zealand’s first mobile phone network. Two years later New Zealand got its first internet connection, the telco sector was deregulated and in 1990 Telecom was sold for a record NZ$4.2 billion and soon listed on the New Zealand, Australian and New York stock exchanges. In 2011 Telecom was split into two different companies, with Telecom being the retailer of fixed and mobile services (and operator of a mobile network). Finally, in 2014, it rebranded as Spark New Zealand with broadband, entertainment media and cloud computing.
What Has Spark New Zealand Done Today?
Spark New Zealand’s owned business called Qrious, which focuses on data, analytics and AI, has signed a conditional agreement to acquire NOW Consulting.
According to Spark, Now Consulting is the New Zealand-based data consulting division of Wherescape Software, which will give Qrious a unique data and analytics offering in New Zealand.
The combined business will operate under the Qrious brand combining the “rich” data, analytics, AI and data-powered customer engagement capabilities of Qrious with NOW Consulting’s wealth of expertise and capability in data integration, engineering and visualisation.
Spark New Zealand CEO Jolie Hodson said: “Data is fast becoming a business’ most valuable asset. When unleashed effectively, it provides a real competitive advantage.
We are proud of the position Qrious has already built as a leading innovator in New Zealand’s data and analytics space, particularly following Qrious’ successful acquisition and integration of marketing automation business Ubiquity in 2017.
Is Spark New Zealand A Buy?
Spark is growing nicely and has plenty of attractive attributes, particularly considering it’s operating in a smaller market like New Zealand.
Shareholders who have held for several years have done well and it continues to offer a fairly attractive dividend yield. It could be a good defensive play, but I’d prefer to invest in the reliable shares in the free report below instead.
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