$5m deal sealed in US market

By ADAM GIFFORD

Sanderson Computers' utility billing division, Gentrack International, has made the first sale of its New Zealand-developed Gentrack software in the United States.

Managing director Andrew Wereszczynski said the sale to Connecticut-based MX Energy was worth at least $5 million over five years.

"We've been quietly working away up there for a couple of years but it is tough to get a sale in the US unless you have a US reference site to show," he said.

British-based Sanderson has restructured into nine business units after an investor-financed management buyout.

The New Zealand operation has responsibility for Gentrack, which Sanderson says has the most potential among its 35 core software products to become a global seller.

Sanderson has tightened its grip on the local market since deregulation, with 85 per cent of New Zealand gas and electricity consumers now billed through Gentrack.

Another Auckland company, Peace Software, has established a strong position in the US, but no longer has any New Zealand energy customers.

Wereszczynski said his firm could have made a big push into the US two years ago, "but we are not prepared to do anything at the expense of the New Zealand base".

MX Energy chief information officer Greg Taffet said the reasons for choosing Gentrack included proven delivery of six to nine months, cost effectiveness and its ability to include different products on the same bill.

MX Energy supplies gas to small commercial and residential customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Nebraska.

Apart from its New Zealand customers, Gentrack is used by seven Australian sites and power companies for Fiji, the Cook Islands, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Mann. It is also used by a Cambodian client.

The first version of Gentrack was written in 1989.

It has 33 modules including core billing, complex billing, customers and switching, campaigns, call centres, hire purchase, image scanning, prepay metering, customer loyalty and web access.

The Sanderson group had international revenue last year of $364.8 million and a profit of $44.9 million.

About 120 of its 1100 staff work in New Zealand.

Wereszczynski said staff numbers would increase 30 per cent this year and 40 per cent next year to cope with the expected growth in Gentrack sales.