Johannesburg- and London-listed technology group Datatec has named its chief financial officer, Rob Evans, as its new operations director. He will take on the new role with effect from 1 June.
Evans will be replaced in the finance role by Jurgens Myburgh, who will join Datatec on 1 May as chief financial officer designate.
Datatec says the addition of the new board role is a reflection of the “growing scale and complexity of the group’s operations”.
Group CEO Jens Montanana says in a statement that Evans is “ideally suited for this new position with his broad international experience, including over 10 years in various operating and finance roles across Datatec”.
“Rob’s responsibilities will include business process improvement, internal audit, post-acquisition integration oversight and internal corporate development,” the group says.
Myburgh, 38, is a chartered accountant and will join Datatec from Standard Bank, where he worked for the past 13 years. Most recently, he was head of mergers and acquisitions for the banking group. “He has extensive experience in finance, management, listed company corporate actions, and mergers and acquisitions.”
At the same time, Datatec has published a trading statement for the financial year that will end in February.
Group revenues for the financial year are still expected to be in the range of US$5,6bn to $5,8bn, but profits are likely to be lower than earlier forecast.
This is due to “softer trading” at subsidiary Westcon, the impact of a switch to a new business management software system at Westcon in North America and a non-cash provision of up to $20m “relating to the recoverability of certain assets in Westcon North America”.
This provision could reduce the group’s current year’s profit after tax by up to $13m, it warns. Earnings per share could be below the previously published forecasts by at least 20%, it adds.
However, Datatec says it expects to maintain its distribution to shareholders at $0,09/share, the same as a year ago, making for a full-year dispersion of $0,17, again the same as in 2013. It expects to publish its 2014 results in mid-May. — (c) 2014 NewsCentral Media
