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Sekunjalo holds off listing ICT unit

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 04 Nov 2010

Listed investment holding company Sekunjalo wants to add more bulk to its ICT unit before looking at listing it separately on the JSE.

The company yesterday reported revenue for the year to August of R436.9 million, a 9% increase. However, the ICT unit, Sekunjalo TSG, grew revenue faster than overall group revenue, at 13%.

Sekunjalo has stakes in several industries, such as fishing, IT and financial services. It is also the black economic empowerment partner to global telecommunications giant British Telecom (BT) in its South African operations. Sekunjalo has a 30% stake in BTSA.

CEO Khalid Abdulla says Sekunjalo sees its BTSA stake as a way of growing into Africa, and it will continue to look for such opportunities. “There are opportunities in there [Africa] that we want to try and capture.”

Abdulla says the company wants to add to its current ICT offerings, which includes Health System Technologies, Saratoga Software, and Digital Matter. He explains that the intention is to complement its existing services to fill in the gaps in areas in which the company does not play.

Sekunjalo sold Synergy Business Intelligence to empowerment consortium Kovacs Investments, for R27.5 million, in the middle of last year. Before the sale, Sekunjalo had been looking at listing the ICT unit.

Abdulla says after the sale of Synergy, Sekunjalo TSG will seek acquisitions that add value, and have the potential to create jobs. Abdulla says the company wants to buy at least a 20% stake in any venture it seeks to acquire.

In addition, it wants to settle a contractual dispute with the Gauteng Department of Health. Sekunjalo had a joint venture with the Baoki Consortium, to implement the Hospital Information and Gauteng Electronic Health Record systems, for the Gauteng Department of Health.

Once Sekunjalo has grown its TSG unit, the company may again look at listing the entity, says Abdulla. However, this is unlikely to happen for at least a year or two, he adds.

Related story:
Sekunjalo's IT arm holds up

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