A surge in staff growth has encouraged Adapt IT CEO Sbu Shabalala to fast-track the construction of the specialised solutions provider's new Gauteng office.
Speaking to ITWeb at the groundbreaking ceremony in Midrand yesterday, Shabalala described how the company growth encouraged the centralised office. "Currently we have a number of offices around Gauteng housing at least 600 staff members. We, in the past year, have seen our staff numbers increase to close to 1 000. It was necessary to centralise our operations and offices in the province."
The Durban-founded company provides software solutions and services to the education, manufacturing, energy and financial services sectors. It has customers in 40 countries across Africa, Australasia, Europe and North America.
The Adapt IT campus, as it will be known, will be a four-storey green building which has been designed by Empowered Spaces Architects and constructed by JT Ross.
Doug Ross, MD of JT Ross, says the project will definitely be a flagship development. "This project has been in the pipeline for quite some time. There has been numerous conversation between Sbu and I and an opportunity came when the ideal property went up for auction and we took transfer of the property in 2015. We understood the company's need to join operations and will translate that in the structure. We expect and envision that the construction will be complete by January 2018, despite numerous setbacks due to the rainy weather."
The said growth is evident in the company's interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2016. Turnover increased 48 % to R461 million for the half-year, with acquisitive growth contribution of 44 % following the acquisitions of CQS, a specialist in the development and deployment of software for financial professionals, and EasyRoster, a provider of rostering optimisation software solutions.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 44 % to R90 million, from R62 million the prior year.
Towards the end of 2016, Shabalala indicated that Adapt IT's strategy for the coming years includes plans to grow its international business as tough conditions in South Africa push it to look for opportunities further afield. Albeit, SA is still the company's key market - bringing in 73% of overall turnover. Around 15% comes from other African countries and the remaining 12% is split between the Americas, Australasia and Europe.
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