A major growth factor is the increasing complexity of technology infrastructure and the skills shortage, persuading more companies to outsource their IT functions to service providers. <\/p>\n
Asher Bohbot, CEO of EOH, says the technology industry is almost independent of the economy and market sentiment will eventually shift back in its favour. <\/p>\n
“We have grown by 44% a year over the past 10 years through organic growth and acquisition, and are cash rich.” <\/p>\n
He says over the past five year the company has acquired KPMG Consulting, IT infrastructure provider Bromide and Mthombu IT Services (MIT) and is looking for more acquisitions. <\/p>\n
Bohbot says the company is creating a mirror operation in the UK and has started a skills resources business locally. <\/p>\n
Andy Brauer, chief technology officer at Business Connexion, says listed technology companies are experiencing healthy growth and their shares should be considered as a good long term investment if their fundamentals are healthy. <\/p>\n
He says Telkom’s bid to buy the company, which was finally rejected by the Competitions Commission last December, had kept it in limbo for two years. <\/p>\n
Brauer says the company is profitable and always has been. <\/p>\n
“We have never made a loss in 28 years.” <\/p>\n
He says the company has embarked on an aggressive strategy to revitalise its business and improve bottom-line earnings. One of Business Connexion’s strengths is infrastructure outsourcing, which is a growing market globally as more companies get service providers to take over traditional IT functions. <\/p>\n
“The market is moving to on demand, self-service IT use.” <\/p>\n
One of the listed companies making its mark in the telecommunications market is Vox Telecom, previously DataPro Group. <\/p>\n
Executive chairman Tony van Marken says: “We have shown triple digit growth since we listed two years ago.” <\/p>\n
Since listing in 2004, the company has made 18 acquisitions, including Orion Telecom and Storm Telecom and several ISPs consisting of Absa Internet Access, XsiNET, Shisas and MjVNet. It also acquired Definity Telecom, VoIP Telecom, Dial telecom and Tema Telecom and Amvia, a provider of fax server solutions, and two Namibian companies, Definity Telecom and Telkom Ericsson, he says. <\/p>\n
Huge Group, a managed telecommunication services company, listed on Alt-X last August to raise capital to enable it to grow its business through acquisitions and compete more effectively in a market that is going through a major consolidation phase, says CEO Anton Potgieter. <\/p>\n
The company provides least cost routing, phone fraud and cost control and cheaper alternatives to voice calls such as SMS and call-back services. <\/p>\n
“We were a family-owned business and wanted to grow our revenues from R300m to at least R500m.” <\/p>\n
Among other things, this would give the company better bargaining power with its suppliers, he says. <\/p>\n
Potgieter says that Huge raised R125m through listing 50% of its shares and since then has acquired least-cost routing company CentraCell and a 25% stake in Eyeballs Mobile, a start up company that has developed technology that delivers advertisements to cellphones. <\/p>\n
Mario Pretorius, CEO of TeleMasters, says listing on Alt-X has raised the company’s profile in terms of market acceptance and client trust and put it into a different league. <\/p>\n
“The Alt-X label has proved to be an invaluable brand.” <\/p>\n
He says the bulk of Telemasters’ revenues are derived from least-cost routing and consulting, which both represent annuity business. <\/p>\n
“We are also putting together packages for bulk SMS, ISP, data line rentals and other telecommunication services.” <\/p>\n
Pretorius says that the company listed 15% of its shares on the Alt-X in March 2007 through a private listing. <\/p>\n
He says that these shares were originally issued to the dealer channel partners, staff and designated advisers, and are now in the public domain. <\/p>\n
Pretorius says that since listing the company has acquired the least-cost routing business of Motion Telecom and that it is in the due diligence phase of acquiring Marketel, which specialises in electronic fax services and competitions using the mobile networks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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