Newly appointed EOH Holdings CEO Stephen van Coller is snapping up the JSE-listed IT services group’s shares, a regulatory filing on Monday shows.

Between 9 October and 12 October, Van Coller, who joined EOH from MTN Group, bought 250 000 shares worth a combined R8.3-million.

The share purchases come less than two weeks after EOH reported full-year results in which the group plunged into a loss of R104-million, from a profit of R1.2-billion in 2017.

Van Coller’s investment is likely to signal not only to the market that he is bullish about EOH’s prospects but also that the share — which has plunged in the past 18 months — may have bottomed.

The group reported a sharp decline in normalised headline earnings per share in the year to end-July 2018. Normalised Heps fell 41% to R4.67, while the group reported a diluted loss per share of 68c.

It was a year in which EOH came under unprecedented scrutiny over its business practices (especially in respect of government contracts), shed a controversial acquisition, appointed Van Coller as CEO, split the group into two new operating subsidiaries and concluded a new black economic empowerment deal.

EOH was trading at R31.84 shortly after 11am in Johannesburg on Monday, down 1.4% on the session. The counter has shed more than two-thirds of its value in the past 12 months. — (c) 2018 NewsCentral Media