South African tech stock that went from R110 to the bargain bin
PSG Wealth portfolio manager Schalk Louw said while iOCO has seen a recent share price recovery, it is still a long way from its peak when the stock traded at R110 per share about a decade ago.
After reaching those heights in 2015 and almost again in November 2016, when it was still known as EOH, the firm’s share price plummeted to less than R2 by March 2020.
Founded by Asher Bohbot in 1998, EOH became one of South Africa’s best-known and respected information technology companies.
It specialised in providing technology services to private and public sector players, and remained entrepreneurial and acquisitive during Bohbot’s tenure as CEO.
The company ranked fifth on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 2012, with a compounded year-on-year growth rate of 45.2%.
EOH’s stock price peaked at over R111 per share on 6 August 2016. However, significant headwinds followed.
Allegations of corruption and bribery surfaced in 2017, prompting Bohbot to end his nearly 20-year tenure as CEO in June of that year. He stepped down as chairman in 2019.
EOH’s share price plummeted from R103 per share in mid-December 2016 to R41.61 per share by December the following year.
Former MTN executive Stephen van Coller was brought in as EOH CEO in September 2018 with the intention of improving corporate governance and addressing debt challenges.
The share price continued its decline with Van Coller spearheading the sale of valuable assets to pay off R4.1 billion in debt.
As it sold various businesses, EOH lost over R6 billion in revenue generation and R8.4 billion in net asset value.
It lost a significant portion of its equity and income, and received only around R1.99 billion in cash from the sale of the businesses.
EOH continued to struggle with high debt in the years that followed, compounded by recurring annual losses. The company turned to investors to finance its debt by implementing a R500 million rights offer.
Long way to go after falling from grace
While the plan worked, the company’s share price dropped as low as R1.05 by March 2024. Van Coller resigned as chief executive and stepped down from the EOH board of directors later that month.
Following Van Coller’s departure, interim CEO Marius de la Rey and a new management team initiated a clean break from years of poor performance.
In December 2024, the EOH Group rebranded to iOCO, adopting the name of its highly regarded enterprise IT division.
Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter took over as joint CEOs at iOCO in February 2025, after which Summerton became iOCO’s sole CEO in early 2026.
Since February 2025, iOCO’s stock price has grown from under R3.00 per share to around R4.15 per share as of market close on 2 June 2026.
Speaking to BusinessDayTV, Louw noted that iOCO had seen a recent 81% recovery in its share price, but remained sceptical.
“It’s looking fantastic, and as we sit here, it’s trading at something like R4.10 or R4.20,” Louw said. However, Louw said the share price was still far from what it once was.
“I encourage people to read up on the story of how they actually fell from grace. Great company back in the days, still focused on the tech stuff,” he said.
“It’s still got a long way to go to make up for lost time. It’s actually a shame what happened. I must admit, it was an absolute shame.”
iOCO share price from June 2015 to June 2026
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