GijimaAst executive chairman Robert Gumede is stepping back from the day-to-day running of the business to allow CE Jonas Bogoshi to take the lead, the JSE-listed company says.
The company made the announcement on the JSE's Stock Exchange News Service this morning, while posting a strong increase in revenue for the year to June.
"Our executive chairman, Robert Gumede, has fulfilled an executive role for the last three years since the merger of Gijima (a company that he founded 10 years ago) and AST, and has been instrumental in cementing the merger successfully and in driving our new business initiative," the company says.
"Given his view that the company is now placed on a sound platform to deliver future value under the able leadership of Jonas Bogoshi and his executive team, Mr Gumede has decided to relinquish his executive duties, while remaining non-executive chairman, in order to focus on his entrepreneurial company, Guma Group, from 1 November... He will remain invested in GijimaAst through his Guma Group's 37% shareholding and will continue to offer his services to the company."
GijimaAst also announced a 25% increase in revenue, to R2.515 billion from R2.017 billion the year before.
<B>Highlights:</B>
* Revenue up by 25%, to R2.5 billion
* EBITDA up by 70%, to R204 million
* Operating profit up by 81%, to R171 million
* Headline earnings per share up by 111%, to 11.7c
* Dividend per share up by 133%, to 3.5c
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved by 70% and operating profit by 81%.
"The strong increase in revenue enabled us to benefit from economies of scale, as reflected by staff and operating cost increases being contained to 22%.
"Application products, networks, ERP and GMSI performed at an outstanding level, all with operating profit increases in the order of 100% and above," the company says.
"Performance by the Availability Services and Microsoft business units was disappointing and steps have been taken to reverse this trend.
"The further weakening of the rand during the year resulted in a significant foreign exchange translation gain of R48 million (2007: R13 million), mainly from our foreign operations," the company adds.
"Reflecting the higher levels of activity, cash generated from operations before working capital changes increased by 93%, to R167 million (2007: R87 million). However, free cash was tempered by an increase of R196 million in debtors, reflecting the sharp increase in turnover and tougher debt collection environment."
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