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Poynting becomes Alaris

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 04 May 2015
Alaris is repositioning itself and focusing on growth.
Alaris is repositioning itself and focusing on growth.

Poynting Holdings officially changed its name to Alaris Holdings as the bell opened the JSE this morning.

The company, which has recently hived off its loss-making units, will also see its ticker change from POY to ALH. Poynting's shares closed at R2.49 on Thursday, the last day the stock traded under that name.

Poynting last year agreed to sell its loss-making units to its now former CEO Andre Fourie in a deal that saw Poynting also pay over 14 million shares. The company now only comprises its defence and digital television (through African Union Communications) units.

Its decision to sell its unprofitable units was driven by the amount of time and investment required to turn them around and has also simplified the group and positioned it for growth, Poynting has said. In February, it augmented its operations through the purchase of US-based Antenna Research Associates (ARA).

The acquisition, which will cost $5 million (R58.3 million) and 75.8 million Poynting shares (worth R141 million), will enable Poynting to expand into the US market, which it sees as the "land of milk and honey", as ARA already has clients there. It said this move was a bid to take the risk out of its defence unit.

Poynting's name change "is not only very exciting, it also provides us with an opportunity to reposition ourselves and portray our renewed focus," says acting CEO Juergen Dresel. Dresel co-founded the company and was MD of Poynting Antennas.

Bolstering income

In the six months to December, Poynting reported revenue up to R75 million from R37.6 million, and its results showed its headline earnings per share were positive. However, adjusting this metric to remove the units sold during the period, headline earnings per share showed a decline from 10.77c to 5.26c a share.

Although total comprehensive income for the six months for the group was R27.7 million, compared to R3.8 million in the comparative period, the results are skewed due to various accounting issues.

Poynting's discontinued operations, the units it has sold off, generated a loss of R6.5 million in the half-year compared to a loss of R6.1 million a year ago.

The listed company notes in its last results commentary that its focus for the next six to 12 months would be to ensure growth and improved profitability of its two remaining units.

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