Integrated Health Technologies (iHTech), which announced strong interim results for the six months to 30 June, is preparing to launch a number of new ventures in the coming months and is set to rebrand the group to coincide with its move this month to the JSE`s main board.
With Africa Group committed to taking up 16 million shares at 90c each for cash in January next year, iHTech says it will be in an "enviable" position to exploit opportunities and fund ongoing ventures.
The company, which will move from the venture capital sector to the main IT sector on 23 August, reported a 64% increase in revenue to R20.5 million from R12.5 million from the six months to June last year.
Attributable income rose 272% to R3.3 million compared with R897 887 previously and headline earnings soared to 4.8c from 1.61c.
CEO Dirk Odendaal says the group will be renamed Integrated Technology Holdings after a special resolution is passed on 13 August.
"To reflect the changing nature of iHTech`s core business, the board felt it necessary that the banner the group trades under should reflect its activities in the marketplace," explains Odendaal.
The company says the healthcare component, driven through a joint venture with IQHealth, a subsidiary of medical aid company Fedsure Health, is making significant inroads into the market as preferred supplier of integrated services to service providers and funders of the local healthcare industry.
In addition to securing guaranteed profits and a growth rate of at least 30% a year over the next three years, the partnership aligns iHTech with one of the biggest players in this industry, it says.
The alignment with Fedsure Health "represents an enormous market for the exponential roll-out of our proprietary healthcare software solutions", says Odendaal. "This alliance of strengths provides additional product and technology muscle to overcome the current inefficiencies in South African health care systems. IQHealth provides back-end functionality and expertise in e-health commerce, which is complemented by iHTech`s best-of-breed front-end solutions.
"We envisage that the seamless integration between the service providers and funders of the information will ultimately assist patients by confirming benefit status and lodging claims electronically with the various medical aid schemes, as well as facilitating direct payment through the electronic banking systems."
Odendaal says iHTech`s intelligence component, DCS Synergy, has delivered substantial growth.
DCS Synergy was created through the merger of Data Control Services and Synergy, which was acquired with effect from 1 July last year for a combination of R6 million cash and shares.
"We foresee that this growth will be sustained as local demand for business intelligence continues to increase. Research projects industry growth statistics of more than 32% to continue for the foreseeable future," says Odendaal.
"DCS Synergy is one of the largest data warehousing companies in SA, participating in an industry worth more than R330 million per annum. Holding more than an 80% share of the Cognos market, this business should maintain its status as significant cash generator for iHTech."
Among DCS Synergy`s recent successes is a multimillion-rand deal with Afrox Healthcare Services to implement a full data warehouse solution. Transactions have also taken place with Bankmed, Beacon Sweets and Cadbury Schweppes.
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