IT group stock dips despite resilience
The directors described figures for the year to February as resilient in a deteriorating economy, with most divisions performing reliably.
Datacentrix shares traded at 320c after its revenue of R1,5bn created attributable earnings of R120m and headline earnings per share of 61,5c. That was up a healthy 18% from 52c last year when attributable earnings were R101m on revenue of R1,3bn.
“Our 2009 financial year-end results, though short of our own expectations, are positive and commendable in a year that has undoubtedly been tough for most companies,” said chairman Gary Morolo. It was a testament to its tenacity, discipline and proven business model that it was growing in a negative environment and was bigger and stronger than in the past, he said.
Datacentrix supplies and integrates technology infrastructure for businesses and the public sector. Some carefully chosen areas of growth had shown encouraging progress and the group would continue to invest cautiously in those offerings and services, the directors said.
Last year its long-running high empowerment ranking dipped as it hired more top-tier white technicians and as its rivals made more progress. Now it has regained its Empowerdex A rating, although no progress was made in black equity ownership, a key area where it underperforms.
A variety of initiatives had been pursued but the economy was making it difficult for potential black partners to raise the cash to strike empowerment deals. The board is now trying to find a way to give the staff significant equity ownership as part of a retention strategy for key managers and technicians.
As many IT companies had retrenched staff to cut their costs, that created opportunities for Datacentrix to expand its skills by picking up some of that surplus, although it would pay due regard to the need to contain costs and conserve capital.
The board said it expected the group to remain profitable and show growth in the deteriorating environment by selling must-have rather than nice-to-have technologies that could help businesses cut their running costs.
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