PBT seeks rapid expansion

PBT Group, which reverse listed into the Wooltru cash shell last year, will “rapidly” expand its operations into Africa, the Middle East and Australia in the next six months.

Last November, PBT used retail has-been Wooltru to reverse list onto the JSE, becoming the first ICT stock to list in two years.

Until the end of the 1990s, Wooltru was SA's largest retailer and owned Massmart, Woolworths, CNA and Truworths. Apart from CNA, now owned by Edcon, all the other companies have separate JSE listings.

The technology company says it grew its client base in the first half of the year. It expects to rapidly expand into Africa, the Middle East and Australia, which will result in more than half of its income coming from foreign operations in the second half of the year.

For the first half of the year to February, the company turned over R94 million. It reported pre-tax profit of R18.9 million and net profit of R13.4 million. For the 14 months to August, the entity reported revenue of R84 million and net profit of R20 million.

Most of PBT's revenue in the first half, R59.5 million, came from inside SA during the first half. Africa and the Middle East accounted for R30.9 million, and R3.6 million was earned in Australia.

PBT has two subsidiaries: PBT Technology Services and PBT Infosight. It also owns all of Stricklands Tetra Cape and 51% of PBT Insurance Technologies. PBT plays in the business intelligence and information management space, and has clients in SA and Australia.

PBT says it beat its pre-tax warranty of R32 million for the 12 months to February. As a result, it will issue more shares to wrap up the reverse takeover of the Wooltru cash shell.

The stock issue will dilute future earnings per share. In the six months to February, headline and earnings per share were 10c.

The reverse listing led to Wooltru buying PBT Group, Stricklands Tetra Cape and 51% of PBT Insurance Technologies, for up to R232.2 million, paid for through the issue of Wooltru shares. Once the deal has gone through, PBT will own 35% of Wooltru.

Wooltru's shares were issued in two batches; the first set on 25 November and the second in February, when PBT fulfilled its profit warranty.

PBT declared a 3c a share dividend.