Even so, it has skewed the company’s interim figures, with revenue up 45% from R301m to R436m for the six months to January, not matched by a slower 25% growth in after-tax profit from R21,5m to R26,8m. Headline earnings a share of 42,2c were up 21% from 34,9c. <\/p>\n
Bohbot said investments in several new ventures had capped profits, but as those new activities began to pay off, its pre-tax profit margin should return to about 10% for the full financial year. <\/p>\n
The UK venture was being carried out in partnership with British technology players that EOH was already familiar with, Bohbot said. <\/p>\n
“We are starting to think globally. If there is a recession here or a pulling back of capital expenditure by the private sector, we have the ability to push things elsewhere,” he said. <\/p>\n
“The mobility of information technology skills is going to grow bigger, and if we are playing in Europe our ability to retain people in EOH is greater, because if they want to work in Europe they can go there for us.” <\/p>\n
The UK venture was initially offering software implementation services and would grow to offer the full range of EOH activities in time, Bohbot said. <\/p>\n
The group supplies medium size to large companies with business software including customer relationship management and business intelligence systems and e-commerce applications. <\/p>\n
It has consultancy skills in project services, change management and risk management, and maintains and supports its clients’ technology infrastructure on an outsourced basis. <\/p>\n
In the past few months EOH has invested more in providing hosted technology services for its clients and had bulked up its ability to provide technicians to its clients on short-term contracts. <\/p>\n
That has seen it recruit 15 technicians from South America to boost its skills. <\/p>\n
Bohbot said he was satisfied with the performance for the interim period, particularly since growth was mainly organic. <\/p>\n
Some acquisitions may be made in the coming months to help it focus on the public sector and the mining, manufacturing, telecommunications and financial services sectors. That required niche business acumen as well as technology skills, he said. <\/p>\n
EOH held R96m in cash that might fund acquisitions to bulk up its existing offerings or expand into complementary areas, he said. One move might be to buy a technology training organisation so EOH could boost its own skills and recruit and train more staff to place with its clients. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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