Spescom CEO quits

By Iain Scott for Spescom

Johannesburg, 08 Jun 2000

Spescom CEO Peter Verwer has relinquished all his directorships in the group, citing interests which may be in conflict with Spescom's operations following a change in group strategy.

"Peter Verwer has informed me that as a result of Spescom's strategic positioning, he wishes to pursue certain opportunities which may be in conflict with our current and envisaged operations," says executive chairman Tony Farah.

Farah says Verwer's services will be retained as a senior executive consultant.

The group announced with the release of its interim results this week - which showed a 34.7% fall in turnover and a 15.8c headline loss per share - that it has chosen to concentrate on globalisation.

The decrease in revenue was blamed on a drop in sales to Telkom and a reduction in spending as a result of Y2K fears and a general market slowdown.

The group began the process in January, when it bought a 58% stake in US-based Altris - its first overseas venture in 17 years. The deal also gave the group full ownership of Altris UK.

"In spite of the poor results for the first six months, Spescom is in a better position than ever before in realising its strategic objective of being a global company with its own proprietary technology and products and operations in key international markets," Farah says.

Despite Verwer's resignation, the globalisation plans are in place and are showing a return on investment, he adds, citing the recent deal with Microsoft to supply it with Spescom software for use in its product support centres worldwide.

Farah says Verwer has been dedicated to the communications side of the business for the past few months and it is in this field that he will be retained as a consultant.

By Thursday midmorning the Spescom share was trading at 325c, down 14c or 4.13% from Wednesday's close, after 104 703 shares changed hands in 38 deals. The share opened the year at R10.20. Its highest close this year - R12.95 - was reached on 25 January.