Altron realises 30% revenue growth

Altron said gross revenue increased by 30 percent to R19.2 billion and normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) by 24 percent to R1.6 billion from its continuing operations.

Group CE Mteto Nyati said: “We are two years into the One Altron strategy five-year roadmap and have already surpassed our set key milestones, putting us ahead of plan by almost a year.”

He said the South African operations had grown Ebitda by 15 percent in spite of the tough economy. The Rest of Africa operations increased Ebitda by 41 percent. European operations did well to lift Ebitda by over 80 percent.

“Overall we want to continue to grow organically but will keep looking for bolt-on acquisitions in the areas of data analytics, cloud and IoT- these remain growth drivers for the company”, he said of the group’s primary strategy.

The group’s best performers were Bytes UK with Ebitda growth of 79 percent, Netstar 19 percent growth and Altron Bytes Secure Transaction Solutions 14 percent growth.

Key wins in the private and public sectors included, among others: Altron Nexus winning the Gauteng Broadband Network Phase 2 contract worth R2.8 billion, Altron Bytes Systems Integration awarded a R38 million data analytics contract by FNB and Bytes UK won a five-year R2.7 billion contract with the NHS.

During the year, Altron reduced debt, despite investing in future growth. Net debt is R1.6 billion, down from R1.94 billion year-on-year. A final dividend of 44 cents per share brought the total dividend for the year of 72 cents per share.

Altron strengthened its board through the appointment of Cedric Miller as chief financial officer and Dr Phumla Mnganga as an independent non-executive director.

Source:Edwardwest