Johannesburg, 20 Aug 2002
Dimension Data`s gross margin for its current financial year is likely to be less than indicated at the interim stage owing to a slow September quarter at subsidiary Datacraft Asia.
DiData also says it has cut its staff by 9% since reporting its interim results, a move undertaken to contain overheads.
The group indicated at the interim stage that it would report a sequential increase in dollar revenue in the second half and a gross margin of at least 22.1% for the full year.
However, it says while it is on track to achieve its sequential revenue target, it expects an overall gross margin of about 21% for the full financial year.
DiData attributes this to lower gross margins in the second half of the year driven largely by Datacraft Asia, a number of strategic low-margin technology transactions in New York and a higher contribution from the Express Data distribution business in Australia.
It says overheads for the full year will amount to about $420 million.
Datacraft Asia has warned that margin pressure and a slow quarter to September will result in a small operating loss for that quarter.
The Singapore-listed company says it has merged a number of operations for greater efficiency and that it has improved its financial controls and balance sheet.
Outside of China, its revenue for the six months to end-June grew 5% over the preceding six months, while operational profit grew 15%. Revenue in China, which now represents 9% of turnover, declined by 28% sequentially and China recorded a $2.6 million operational loss.
The DiData share was trading at 370c on the JSE by midmorning, 2c or 0.54% up on yesterday`s close. It touched 350c earlier in the day.
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