SecureData is set to leave the bourse after MB Technologies' (MBT's) bid to buy it was sanctioned by the Competition Tribunal and the Takeover Regulation Panel.
It says, in a statement to shareholders, that its listing will be terminated from the JSE on 18 March.
MBT's R85 million bid for the company was made last November. The move will lead to a more diverse organisation, accelerate African expansion opportunities, and provide cross-selling opportunities, while adding a specialised security company to MBT.
SecureData CEO Miles Crisp said adding SecureData to MBT's fold would give it more scale as MBT provides it with more distribution points around SA. SecureData will also aid MBT to grow its presence in Africa.
SecureData will remain a separate unit within MBT, but will share facilities where it makes sense.
SecureData will now also have the backing and breathing space to accelerate its strategy and expansion into Africa, said Crisp. He explains the market would have punished it if its African rollout led to losses.
The listed company has recently been restructured and has sold its SensePost unit for R36 million, leaving it with its loss-making African entity. In the year to July, a period that included SensePost, its made a modest profit of R2.38 million, compared with its net loss last year of R38 million. Revenue also improved, growing from R222 million to R289.7 million.
SecureData believes growth opportunities will come from its African operation, which provides the bulk of its revenue.
SensePost was bought out by SecureData Europe as SecureData aimed to focus even more on its biggest revenue-spinner, but loss-making African operation.
SensePost, conversely, continues to be profitable and, in the year to July, turned over just more than 12% of SecureData's revenue for the year, and saw a slight decline in its Ebitda margin to 23.2%
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