Cape Town-based Hicor, a JSE-listed e-commerce company, has announced a restructuring of its top management.
Renier van Rooyen stepped down as executive chairman and also resigned as a director of the group to hand over the reins to Danny Pringle as new executive chairman and CEO. Van Rooyen will pursue personal interests as a director of several other companies, but Pringle says Van Rooyen remains a significant and valued Hicor shareholder.
"Hicor has changed direction several times over the past few years and posted significant write-offs as a result. This has meant that the investment community has not yet accepted Hicor`s switch to the IT sector," says Pringle.
Hicor reported a turnover of R46.4 million for the year to March 2000, with an attributable loss of R14.3 million and headline earnings of 2.3c.
Pringle is adamant Hicor`s interim results will be significantly better than the year-end results reported in June.
"The process and result of divesting from the retail businesses during the last fiscal year brought about the writing off and substantial and unplanned losses in March 2000. With the exception of a definite divestment of the last remaining non-core businesses in the group, the legacy of Hicor as a retailer and wholesaler is now behind us," says Pringle.
"Despite the dismal financial performance of the retail side of Hicor over the past two years, Hicor`s IT subsidiaries have a track-record of making profit. The company`s recurring annuity-style revenue is showing considerable growth, and it is involved in several major projects and negotiations which will bolster this further over the next few months."
In January, Hicor announced the R36 million acquisition of US-based software developer BCE Emergis.
Pringle says the full extent of the management restructuring will be announced shortly. He adds that there will be several internal structural changes over the next few weeks, and that head office operations will shift from Cape Town to the Pretoria office.
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