EOH has again grown its top line by more than 40%, continuing a trend that began when it listed several years ago.
The company, which has a presence in 134 locations in South Africa, 29 African countries and the UK, this morning said its income gained 42% to R7.2 billion in the year to July, while profit after tax leapt 48.5% to R492 million. It declared a 120c dividend, a gain on last year's 95c.
EOH, which has a strategy of growing through organic gains and acquisitions, said in-house growth accounted for 54.4% of its year-on-year gains, while recent buyouts added 49.3%. Earnings per share gained 30.1%, while headline earnings per share - a key indicator of performance - grew 31.7%.
During the year, EOH bought assets worth R833 million, which accounted for R974 million in revenue and profit of R102 million. These add to other small businesses EOH has added to its portfolio in the recent past.
Among its purchases was Sybrin, which it spent R283 million on purchasing, to boost its capabilities in providing software solutions for the financial services industry, including software for workflow, payments, imaging and document management solutions.
CEO Asher Bohbot has said the group will keep buying smaller entities across all areas of the business where it makes sense and a need within the company is filled.
Although most of its revenue comes from inside SA, EOH aims to "gradually" grow revenue from outside SA, it says. Its strategy is to follow its customers into other African countries.
Bohbot has said EOH is pushing further into Africa, although it is doing so cautiously. He noted the African endeavour is still early in the curve, and the group is getting involved slowly so that if it has a misstep, it will be small. "We are making our move with lots of little steps."
EOH says it will begin distributing its own niche software products internationally, a growth area that is "significant in both size and strategic importance to EOH's future".
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