Central Information Holdings (CIH) has announced the resignation of CEO and chairman Peter Backhouse, as well as below expectation interim results.
CIH, the call centre company that listed in April this year, has posted a R2.85 million net loss and a turnover of R1.22 million. This translates into a 9.2c loss per share.
Laurie Hodgetts, who has taken over from Backhouse for the interim, has attributed the losses to the six-month delay in installing call centre equipment due to a lack of setup finance. The company has instead opted for a rented system from Telkom.
In the pre-listing forecast, a turnover of R15.7 million and headline earnings per share of 6.6c for the year ending 29 February 2000 were forecast. The company says this is unlikely to be achieved, as it is at least 10 months behind rollout. "This setback will have an impact on us achieving our full-year forecast," states Hodgetts.
"However, we remain confident that CIH should experience a rapid turnaround once the company launches its 082 182 call centre products. The next three months should see the company`s cash inflow improving as product and service demand picks up, which could see the business being restored to break-even by year-end," says Hodgetts.
Financial director Marie Viljoen says CIH raised R5.25 million from the April listing and has subsequently spent R2.5 million on the purchase of property and an office block. She notes that as the equipment is now up and running, the company will be at break-even point by the end of the financial year and reach profitability by August 2000.
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