Listed outsourcing company GijimaAst has targeted additional sectors of the economy as potential sources of revenue.
It also aims to derive a “substantial” amount of its income from offering offshore services within the next five years.
Stephen Bosman, managing executive for strategy and governance, says GijimaAst has identified several areas of the economy into which it can expand.
One of these is to move further into financial services, beyond just providing an offering to the banks. Bosman explains that the company has secured a contract with Sanlam to provide the insurance giant with desktop support.
GijimaAst now wants to expand into other aspects of financial service, such as growing its presence in the insurance sector, he says. Financial services accounts for 14% of the company's revenue, and is a major driver of the economy.
The retail space is another identified growth area. Retail provides the company with 7% of its income, but this can be grown into areas not currently being served, he notes.
GijimaAst is implementing an integrated forecourt solution for a major petroleum company, which covers all the retail systems in the service station environment. This includes front office and back office.
Heavy duty
Manufacturing accounts for 12% of the company's revenue.
Mining, 17% of GijimaAst's revenue, is set to start picking up from next year as projects that have been paused are reignited as the economy improves. Bosman says the company's mining software division, GMSI, has been restructured and is starting to see improvement, although this is off a low base.
The public sector remains a key focus area for the group. At the moment, it accounts for about 44% of total revenue. Bosman says the company has been successful in the public sector because of the “accumulation of a lot of work that was done before”.
However, tenders have recently been delayed due to the change in administration, and GijimaAst is waiting for the outcome of five large tenders for which it has bid.
One of its large projects, Who Am I Online, is set to start rolling out the first important phase in the first quarter of 2010, with a number of local and international Department of Home Affairs centres going live in time for tourists arriving for the Fifa 2010 World Cup. These sites are currently being determined.
Outside of SA, GijimaAst aims to earn a “substantial” amount of its revenue from offshore companies in the next five years. Bosman says the expansion trail will start with it following its clients outside of SA, and using that as a launch pad to grow.
In addition, the company is expanding its offerings and is aggressively moving into areas of on-demand computing that incorporates cloud computing, virtualisation and software-as-a-service, says Bosman. As GijimaAst is in a closed period pending the publication of its interim results, he could not disclose the amount of the investment.
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