NextDC shares jump after it lifts capex guidance
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The news: Shares in NextDC surged in morning trade after the data centre operator announced plans to accelerate capital expenditure on the back of new customer contract wins.
The numbers: NextDC reported that the new contracts had lifted the company's contracted utilisation by 30% during the March quarter to 228MW.
The company's Victorian data centres were the biggest winners, with pro forma contracted utilisation lifting to 114MW over the same period, representing 161% of built capacity at the end of December.
As a result, NextDC's 2025 fiscal year capex guidance has been increased from a range of $1.3 billion-$1.5 billion to $1.4 billion-$1.6 billion.
The company also said its net revenue and underlying EBITDA guidance for the same period remains unchanged.
NextDC's share price was 9.1% higher at $13.82 at 11.02am AEST.
The context: NextDC is the largest data centre operator in Australia with facilities across the country, as well as in New Zealand, Japan and Malaysia.
Its share price fell steadily in the first four months of the year as enthusiasm for AI-related stocks wavered amid global economic uncertainty.
But CEO Craig Scroggie said in a statement that the latest contract wins come as "the rise of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing is reshaping the data centre industry at speed".
"Hyperscale customers are scaling AI-native infrastructure at unprecedented levels," he added.
The source: ASX announcement
