Equinix says financial impact of pandemic lower than anticipated

Data centre giant says Covid-19 will cost it around $20 million less than first thought

Equinix said the financial impact of Covid-19 on its business will be lower than originally predicted after the data centre provider posted better than expected Q3 earnings.

In May, after considering a range of scenarios, company executives warned costs related to the pandemic could rise to $50 million for 2020. Two quarters later and Equinix says the figure is more likely to be between $20 and $30 million.

“As businesses navigate the economic, health and societal changes happening in the world, Equinix is in a unique position to help our customers adapt, respond and accelerate their digital transformation – a key driver for economic recovery,” said Charles Meyers, president and CEO of Equinix.

Equinix netted $1.52 bn in Q4 revenue, representing both a 3% increase over the previous quarter and $0.5 bn more revenue than the company made in the third quarter of 2019.

The data centre provider now expects to secure a yearly profit of around $6 billion – an 8 per cent rise from the previous year – after raising yearly revenue guidance by $39 million than stated in its Q2 earnings report.

In Q3, Equinix added 8,500 net interconnections, fuelled by video conferencing, streaming, cloud adoption and work-from-home local aggregation.

Traffic on the Equinix Internet Exchange rose by 43% year-over-year, with a 7% increase quarter-over-quarter. While Equinix Fabric, previously Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric crossing the $100 million annual run rate.

In October, Equinix completed the acquisition of 12 Bell Canada data centres and expects to acquire another Bell Canada facility in Ottawa in Q4 2020.