Dimension Data shareholders are nervously awaiting the interim results of 51% subsidiary Datacraft Asia amid rumours of a worse than expected performance.
The Singapore-based subsidiary issued a profit warning late last year, saying that it was facing suspended, deferred and cancelled projects in the wake of the September terrorist attacks in the US.
It said it expected to make a trading profit for the first half of the financial year, excluding amortisation of goodwill, of between 30% and 40% of the profit made for the corresponding period the previous year.
However, there are rumours that Datacraft Asia has performed worse than the profit warning indicated, and may even report losses.
Several analysts have lowered their expectations with regard to the results.
Datacraft said last year it was taking action to reduce expenses and hold back expense growth in the current year by at least $16 million.
The cuts included the retrenchment of about 230 employees, about 12% of Datacraft`s staff.
The rumours had a negative impact on the DiData share price, which touched a low of R14 on the JSE on Friday (15.2% lower than Thursday`s close), before regaining ground to close at R15.20.
Dealers say there was also a degree of profit taking, which was also evident in several other IT stocks.
The DiData share was trading at R15 by midmorning today.
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