Business Connexion (BCX), which is targeting acquisitions in Africa even as it is being bought out by Telkom, wants 30% of its revenue to come from the continent.
In the year to August, organic revenue increased 7.2% due to new enterprise client wins, reflecting its focus on an improved sales culture and cross-selling. Reported revenue, which strips out recent deals and disposals, grew 5.5% to R6.5 billion.
Deputy CEO Vanessa Olver says, of its top line, between 8% and 10% came from outside SA, a figure the company wants to boost to 30% eventually. She notes Telkom, which has offered R2.67 billion for the company, is supportive of its strategy to continue pushing ICT services into Africa.
Telkom's bid is still awaiting regulatory approvals, but both companies expect it to be wrapped up by March.
Olver says BCX is seeking African acquisitions, but will focus on niche service providers rather than commodity plays. During the year, it made several purchases, including managed print services company Panabiz in Nigeria, point-of-sale entity Ultimate Software in Botswana, and Appzone, a technology services provider based in Nigeria.
However, its international - African - operations reported a R27.6 million loss during the year due to poor performance from its Nigerian operation. Olver explains this was because the operation was not turning its sales pipeline into actual sales, a situation that has been remedied with a new management team.
All its other operations - Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Namibia - did well, says Olver. Overall, the international unit grew revenue 28.8% to R685.5 million.
Olver adds BCX is also targeting the public sector, a strategy that is "really starting to pay off" as the percentage of income earned from this sector has grown from 8% to 14%. BCX will be comfortable with 20% to 25% of its income coming from government.
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