Altron’s continued turnaround, under the leadership of CEO Mteto Nyati, delivered the best performance among technology shares listed on the JSE in 2018, TechCentral’s annual review of the sector shows.

Altron shares advanced 49% last year, building on their momentum of 2017, when they rose 37.7%, and delivering an impressive 222% return for shareholders (excluding dividends) over a three-year period.

The only other company to come close to that sort of performance over three years is Mix Telematics, whose share price has risen by 204% since 1 January 2016. Mix Telematics was the top performer in TechCentral’s list for 2017, rising 88.8%.

Despite Altron’s solid performance, it was a mostly a terrible year for technology shares on the JSE, with only four of the 21 shares included in TechCentral’s list advancing during 2018. In the green were Altron, Mustek (in second place with a solid 33.3% share price rise), Telkom (third, up 31.5%) and Mix Telematics (fourth, up 29%).

Telkom was the clear winner in 2018 among the big telecommunications operators. Vodacom placed second, though its shares declined by 9.4%. MTN, hit hard by its problems in Nigeria, sank 34.9%. Over three years, the value of MTN shares has fallen by 31.5% against a 13.4% decline for Vodacom and a 1.6% decline for Telkom.

Blue Label Telecoms and Net1 UEPS Technologies both saw their shares tank on their respective investments in Cell C, with investors nervous about the prospects for South Africa’s third largest mobile operator. Blue Label fell 63.7% in 2018 (54% over three years), while Net1 fell 66.1% (75.6%).