The Untold Story of Datatec’s Billion-Rand Payday

A juicy secret lurks beneath the surface of Datatec’s latest financials, and CEO Jens Montanana is about to spill the beans. The man behind South Africa’s largest listed IT company, Datatec, has been quietly cooking up a plan to unlock a staggering R1.5 billion in value for shareholders. And he’s putting his money where his mouth is – literally.

Montanana, a 63-year-old maverick, has just increased his stake in Datatec to 17%, making him one of the company’s biggest shareholders. He’s been on a quest to unlock the value he believes is trapped in the company, and he won’t stop until he gets it done.

But here’s the twist – Montanana believes Datatec’s valuation is a whopping 33% lower than similar companies globally. That’s like saying you can buy a Ferrari for the price of a Toyota. Doesn’t feel quite right, does it?

So, what’s the plan to unlock this value? In a daring move, Montanana sold off a key subsidiary, Analysys Mason, for a staggering R4.1 billion. The proceeds were then returned to shareholders in the form of a special dividend. Talk about a windfall!

But the real fireworks are happening with Westcon, Datatec’s IT networking distribution business. After a tough year, Westcon is now cashing in on a 45% surge in cybersecurity sales – that’s a 1,000% increase from just a few years ago. And Logicalis, Datatec’s IT services business, is also cooking with gas, despite some notable hiccups in Latin America.

Despite being a major listed company, Datatec’s shares are still stuck in a rut. Montanana believes the key to unlocking value lies in finding a way to get noticed in global markets, perhaps by merging with a larger player. But don’t count him out just yet – he’s already got a plan B, C, and D.

With a monopoly on the South African IT market, Datatec’s shares are a hot ticket, and Montanana’s plan is to make sure the gravy train keeps on rolling. Will he succeed? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure – with Montanana at the helm, Datatec is ready to ride the waves of change and cash in on the next big opportunity.

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“Get ready for the insurance revolution! Prudential is about to unleash a revolution in medical claims processing with the power of GenAI. They’re teaming up with Google Cloud to simplify and summarize claim-related documents, like medical reports and invoices, to speed up approvals and pay-outs. No more tedious paperwork, no more tedious claims processing!

The game-changer is Google’s MedLM, a sophisticated language model that can analyze and synthesize vast amounts of data. It’s like having a superpower in your hands!

Prudential will be using MedLM to analyze documents submitted alongside health insurance claims, such as diagnostic reports, prescriptions, and invoices. The results? Quicker approvals, fewer rejected claims, and a sleeker claims process. It’s a new era in health insurance!

But that’s not all. Prudential’s early tests with MedLM have shown that it can double the automation rate of claim reviews and assessments, while improving the accuracy of claims decisions. This means more efficient claims processing, reduced costs, and better customer experiences.

This revolutionary partnership is just the beginning. Prudential, with its global presence in Asia and Africa, is poised to transform the way health insurance is done. The future is here, and it’s looking bright!”

The Never-Ending Debt Crisis: EOH’s Search for a Fig Leaf

In a desperate bid to turn the corner, EOH Holdings, a JSE-listed IT services group, is counting on a theatrical performance of cost-cutting and financial wizardry to wipe out its massive debt burden. The company’s new senior leadership team, led by interim CEO Marius de la Rey and CFO Ashona Kooblall, claims they can conjure up a healthy balance sheet without selling off any of its prized assets, but the skeptics are already piling up.

The group’s latest results, released this week, highlight the magnitude of the task at hand. EOH’s revenue has plummeted to a paltry R6 billion, down from R12 billion just a few years ago, as it struggled to secure new business in a tough economic environment. Debts have piled up, with interest-bearing bank loans totaling R644 million as of the 2024 year-end, although the company has managed to reduce these by R41 million in the past year.

But Kooblall’s solution is not a ordeals and divestitures, but rather a more audacious approach: get efficiencies to flow directly into free cash flow by shedding R160 million to R200 million in costs from the business. The cost-cutting drive targets the bloated head office, which was built to support a R12 billion company, but now only needs to serve a R6 billion entity.

"We’re not going to sacrifice our people, because we’re a services business," Kooblall assured, as if to quell any doubts about the company’s commitment to its employees. "We will be repaying our debts in the normal course of business."

Of course, there’s a catch: EOH may not be able to muster up the dough to start paying dividends anytime soon. But don’t worry, the company’s going to play a trick, courtesy of its sharp accounting skills: it might just buy back its own shares to prop up the price and boost the value of its treasury, rather than sharing it with the faithful shareholders.

And as for the ghost of state capture, the corporate crooks, and the so-called "expensive paper" deals that nearly destroyed the company, Kooblall assures us that EOH has fully distanced itself from those dark days. A "strong risk background" and experience working with US financial regulators have equipped her to keep a hawk’s eye on the company’s governance, she claims. Ethics, schmethics – but hey, at least the company’s not corrupt anymore, right?

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Eskom’s Desperate Attempt to Stay Ahead of the Game: A Hard Hail Mary Pass at Network Performance Monitoring

In the vast expanse of the ICT sector, the National Treasury’s eTenders portal has been eerily quiet this week, recovering from a weekend of technical woes. But just as the industry was starting to get a little too chill, along comes Eskom, throwing a spotlight on its latest tender, and it’s a doozy: a request for network performance monitoring through the addition of smart nodes to its TAP aggregation devices. Because, let’s be real, in the fast-paced world of energy supply, one minute of downtime is one minute too long.

In this high-stakes game, Eskom sees itself getting left behind by the Joneses (or, in this case, the smart nodes). But fear not, for these smart suckers are about to make it happen. Eskom’s bid for network performance monitoring through TAP aggregation is all about keeping its proverbial eyes on the ball. With a clever trick bag full of tricks, this utility is on the hunt for a wizard of a solution that will keep its network nimble, efficient, and on the offense against those pesky cyber threats.

So, how’s it plan to do it? Easy: with an integrated system, allowing for advanced services like full packet capture and analytics, it’ll be able to pre-process or filter traffic, perform advanced services like deduplication and 1:1 Netflow generation, and even save a copy of the production network traffic flows to a network DVR (recorder node) for later replay. And let’s not forget about analytics for network troubleshooting, security incident response, and security threat hunting.

Other tenders worth a look:

• SITA is inviting proposals for preventative and corrective infrastructure maintenance for SAPS’ 69 terrestrial radio (Tetra) high sites in Gauteng: a whopping 36-month contract, folks!
• Development Bank of Southern Africa is seeking a service provider to supply, deliver, and install an end-to-end solution for an e-mail cleansing solution for itself and its clients. Wow, talk about a whole lotta emails!
• Sentech wants a service provider to help manage online declarations for all Sentech employees and non-directors: transparency, accountability, and compliance, anyone?
• South African Bureau of Standards is advertising for a laboratory information management system: think spreadsheets, but for science!
• And last but not least, Special Investigating Unit is on the hunt for a service provider to provide a wide area network, data, and telephony service, including maintenance of network, data, and telephony connectivity: think critical infrastructure, people!

In conclusion, the ICT sector is heating up, and it’s time to step up your game. Whether you’re a consultant, a vendor, or an individual with a passion for all things tech, there’s a spot for you on this exciting adventure. So, gear up, put on your thinking caps, and get ready to join the conversation!

The ol’ EOH practically begging for mercy as they succumb to yet another desperate attempt to reclaim relevance. This time, they’re ditching their “Holdings” moniker for iOCO Limited, because, you know, “branding initiatives” and all that jazz.

The real question is, will this lame attempt at a rebranding succeed in sweeping their sordid past under the rug? After all, EOH’s tunnel-visioned leadership has seen them nose-dive into the abyss, leaving their shareholders in the lurch. A shadow of their former selves, they cling to the hope that a mere name change will somehow magically erase the stench of corruption and corruption-related fines still hanging over their heads.

But will it be enough to distract from the fact that their group revenue has flatlined, their operating profit is in shambles, and their debt is still growing like a festering wound? We doubt it.

And yet, they’re expected to blame it all on the “one-off restructuring costs” and “decline in group revenue” as if these are the only issues at play. Spoiler alert: IT SERVICE PROVIDERS WHO ENGAGE IN MASSIVE CORRUPTION AND ARENA OF GREED DON’t get to claim they’re in a “transformation phase.”

The real crisis lies in the crumbling leadership, the hemorrhaging of talent (read: sanity), and the decaying trust between the company and its stakeholders. Renaming a company isn’t going to fix the rot from within.

But hey, who knows? Maybe the folks at EOH are counting on us all to forget the countless corporate scandals, the destroyed reputations, and the indelible marks of shame. We’re not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt just yet.