Dicker Data is a Kurnell-based ASX listed IT hardware distributor that boasts a client list of more than 3000 resellers and a product portfolio of technology vendors of the likes of HP, Cisco, Toshiba, ASUS, Lenovo, Telstra and Microsoft.
Kurnell: home to a billion dollar Shire business
Since acquiring Express Data in 2014, Dicker Data has hit the one-billion-dollar a year turnover club.
Since then, reports suggest the company has seen “profits skyrocket,” with net profit after tax jumping from $3 million to $20.4 million. That’s a massive increase of 570%.
The company was also profiled in a recent Australian Financial Review article:
“[Dicker Data’s] market value is approaching $400 million thanks to a steady climb in its share price, which has seen it go from 15c to $2.35 in the past five years.”
The article suggested its run of success has largely gone unnoticed and the company has managed to keep “its bigger rivals at bay” and carve a “sweet spot in the market.”
Dicker Data: no overnight success
While the spotlight may now be turning towards Dicker Data, its success is certainly not an overnight one.
CEO and Chairman David Dicker started up the IT distribution business back in 1978 when the Bee Gees were Stayin’ Alive in white flared pants and Olivia Newton-John was slipping into black lycra and singing “You’re the one that I want.”
Looking back at that time and how things have changed, Dicker told unsungbusinessheroes.com.au:
“It was a much more technical style of selling to what we have now… Today we have day-to-day managers, and I just do the architecture. We have meetings, and talk all the time of course, and I get the figures every day, but I don’t do any of the day-to-day stuff, they do all the work. I go to some of the vendor functions, but all I do is the architecture.”
When questioned about advice for budding entrepreneurs, Dicker indicated it was almost impossible given the number of nuances, but went on to mention “stickability” and “knowing when to change tack” along with “commitment bordering on obsession.”
Dicker Data will celebrate its 40th birthday next year and we look forward to watching its continued success.