Commander sells WA enterprise IT business

Commander Communications has sold AU$30,000 in assets and axed 50 staff from its Western Australian business. Meanwhile, since 1 February, an investment firm has bought AU$500,000 worth of shares in the company.

Commander announced the sale of its "Enterprise ICT business" in Western Australia to local services firm, Empired, on Friday.

"We identified the WA Enterprise ICT business as no longer being core to our business strategy," said Commander's recently appointed CEO, Amanda Lacaze, in a statement.

The sale is expected to be completed this week and affects over 50 Commander staff. It is the latest effort by the company to recover from its well publicised problems last year.

Despite recent sales of various business units -- including the recent AU$10 million sale of its wholesale network services arm, Unitel, to M2 -- Commander's share price has continued to fall. Its share price now sits at 18 cents, which is just one fifth of its ASX-listed price a year ago.

Commander is not quitting the Western Australian market entirely. It plans to hold on to its SMB, corporate and managed services divisions, according to a company spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Empired has said it will make job offers to 30 of Commander's Enterprise ICT staff.

Late last year, Amanda Lacaze took over as managing director and CEO of the struggling company.

Since she took the helm, the company has shed over 600 jobs, triggering an inquiry by the Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman.

Although the company's sell-offs and staff cuts have failed to stem the downward spiral of Commanders' share price, investment firm, Hunter Hall Investment Management has acquired over AU$500,000 worth of Commander's stock so far this month, increasing its stake in the company from 17 to 19 percent.