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Amazon Web Services' (AWS) New Zealand business is growing fast, according to its first ever financial statements filed with the Companies Office.
Sales at the cloud services provider increased from $19.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2019, to $35.9 million in 2020.
However, administrative expenses also increased, from $20.2 million to $37.8 million over the same period, increasing AWS NZ's operating loss from $756,697 to $1.9 million.
After other expenses, the local branch reported a net loss of $2.6 million in 2020, up from $697,056 in 2019.
It looks, however, as if AWS New Zealand's biggest paying customer is AWS.
The bulk of the local company's revenue, $32.7 million, was reported as coming from related parties, presumably payments for market development and related services from its parent.
Given that, the accounts may not represent the actual total sales AWS makes in New Zealand because many customers and partners transact and provision directly with the parent company on the AWS cloud platform.
The statements do show the local company had been on a hiring spree in 2020, with wage and salary expenses increasing during the year from $11.5 million to $26.1 million.
The accounts also note construction in progress to the value of $7.2 million as of 31 December 2020. A new lease of $9.9 million is also noted, indicating increasing office space requirements.
AWS NZ is known to have opened a Wellington office and been hiring there recently.
2020 was a big year for AWS locally. The company worked with many local organisations, including Weta Digital, which announced it was replatforming to AWS last September.
It has also been working with the Bank of New Zealand, Vodafone NZ, electricity company Vector and the University of Auckland.
On a technical and service front, AWS NZ launched a CloudFront Edge location in New Zealand and Outposts to assist the deployment of hybrid clouds.
AWS NZ also opened its global Marketplace to local developers last April.
A spokesperson told Reseller News that since AWS launched its local operations in 2013, it had made significant contributions to the New Zealand economy, including investing in local compensation to our employees and in infrastructure; training people with high-value cloud skills; and creating jobs across Auckland and Wellington.
"Our focus remains on helping our customers to innovate, and investing in our local business to create further jobs and economic opportunity for tens of thousands of organisations across the country," the spokesperson said.
"AWS complies with all applicable tax laws in New Zealand, and in every country where we operate.”
AWS New Zealand's shares are held by an Amazon entity called A100 ROW Inc, registered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.
Overseas companies are required to file local accounts once their businesses in New Zealand exceed $10 million in revenue or their total assets crack $20 million.
