JSE-listed IT services group iOCO – previously EOH Holdings – has appointed Lerato Pule to its board of directors.
Pule, a previous chief financial officer at both Cell C and Liquid Telecom, will join the board on 4 December 2025 and will serve as an independent non-executive director.
Pule, a chartered accountant, will also be appointed to the audit and risk committee and will chair the social and ethics committee, iOCO said in an investor statement on Wednesday.
She currently serves on the board of Phuthuma Nathi Investments, an empowerment company that owns a stake in MultiChoice South Africa, where she is chair of the audit committee.
At the same time, iOCO announced that another of its directors, Nompumelelo Mokou, has been appointed as a member of the remuneration and nomination committee with effect from 4 December.
The changes to the board come as iOCO — under recently appointed co-CEOs Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter — plans to step up its turnaround and pursue acquisitions.
Turnaround
The expansion plan follows a strong turnaround in iOCO’s financial performance. For the year ended July 2025, Ebtida — earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation — rose 68% to R516-million, while operating profit surged 275% to R421-million. Interest-bearing liabilities dropped from R951.6 million to R658.6 million, and free cash flow — generated purely from operations, not asset sales — has given the group breathing room to pursue both acquisitions and potential share buybacks.
Summerton told TechCentral in October that with the company’s net debt position under control (around R500-million in bank debt and R399-million in cash), iOCO is well-positioned to resume strategic acquisitions. He said he expects the firm to focus on tech niches like cybersecurity, aiming to rebuild what iOCO once was — a serial consolidator of tech firms in South Africa and beyond.
Read: iOCO’s extraordinary comeback plan
If successful, iOCO’s refreshed strategy could revive its balance sheet and restore growth ambitions for a company once crippled by legacy governance and state-contract controversies. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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