| Wed 30 Mar 2005, 11:58 | | SEKUNJALO BOOSTS R150 Million IT INTERESTS |
|
Sekunjalo - Sekunjalo boosts R150 million IT interests
Sekunjalo Investments Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1996/006093/06)
Share code: SKJ ISIN: ZAE000017893
(`Sekunjalo` or `the company`)
Press Announcement
30 March 2005
`SEKUNJALO BOOSTS R150 Million IT INTERESTS`
Sekunjalo Investments Limited, the top-rated BEE investment holding company has
bought 24% of London listed XN Checkout PLC`s subsidiary, XN Corporation Africa
for R5 Million.
Sekunjalo, who clinched the deal in the face of adverse opposition, believes the
R5 million price tag buys it assets worth R25 million in London on the basis of
attributable earnings from XN Corporation Africa.
Dr Gilingwe Mayende, CEO of Sekunjalo Industrial Holdings, says `Sekunjalo has
now built up an IT portfolio of over R150 million which includes its investments
in Semtech (Sekunjalo Enterprise Management Technology Pty (Ltd)), Health
Systems Technologies (HST), Synergy Computing and now XN`.
`Last year Sekunjalo made a total of R13 million pre tax from all of its
investments, with the bulk of these earnings coming from its 80% owned
subsidiary, Premier Fishing said Dr Mayende.
`The combined profitability of these IT operations is expected to be over R20
million for the next financial year, `, says Dr Mayende.
Dr Mayende points out that if Sekunjalo were to unbundle and sell its portfolio
of investments, which include the recent acquisition of Bonlife and Benmed, it
would be able to realise a potential value of between R2 to R2.50 per share,
which is between R500m - R700m.
The Group is therefore trading at a substantial discount to its unbundling
value. Dr Mayende will be the representative of Sekunjalo on the board of XN in
his capacity as CEO of Sekunjalo Industrial Holdings.
Dr Mayende says, `Sekunjalo is currently following an aggressive growth strategy
and these recent acquisitions show that the Group has entered an exciting new
phase of earnings growth`.
Ian St Clair, CEO of XN Corporation Africa, an IT service provider to the
leisure, retail and gaming industry, says, `Sekunjalo is Ideally positioned to
help with growth, Sekunjalo, was rated as the 7th highest listed BEE company in
South Africa for 2005. It also has contracts within the areas which XN
Corporation Africa is aggressively moving into`.
More...
`New product development and offerings have enabled us to enter markets with
little or no opposition and with our own development team on board we are
ideally positioned to tailor the product according to customer specification,`
says Mr St Clair.
`With the added financial muscle that XN Checkout PLC gives us and the
credibility that Sekunjalo brings to the party we`re poised for some significant
growth for this year,` he added.
For further information Contact:
Melody Mjila
Group Communications Manager
Sekunjalo Investments Limited
Tel: 021 658 2700
Fax: 021 658 2714
Email: melody@sekunjalo.com
Ends...
Date: 30/03/2005 11:18:07 AM
Produced by the JSE SENS Department
