Datatec at a glance

The Board distributed US$350 million of the SYNNEX proceeds to shareholders. A special cash dividend of R23, with scrip distribution alternative, was paid to shareholders in January 2018. This resulted in the distribution of US$244 million cash and the issue of 43.8 million new shares as the scrip alternative. The Group started a general share buy-back programme and in the 2018 financial year repurchased a total of US$34.6 million.

Logicalis acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Coasin Chile S.A., a Chilean ICT services and solutions provider with offices in Peru for a maximum purchase consideration of US$20.2 million. Thomas Duryea Logicalis acquired Corporate Network Integration (Pty) Ltd (CNI), a Microsoft-certified gold partner based in Melbourne, strengthening Logicalis’ position in the cloud services market. Logicalis SA acquired Clarotech Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Clarotech), and internet protocol telephony cloud and managed services business based in Cape Town to grow its managed services operation.

Analysys Mason acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Access Markets International Partners (AMI Partners) complementing Analysys Mason’s research portfolio.

Datatec announced the sale of its Westcon-Comstor business in North America and Latin America (Westcon Americas) and of 10% of the remaining part of Westcon-Comstor (Westcon International) to SYNNEX Corporation. The proceeds of the Transaction comprised US$630 million in cash on completion and up to US$200 million payable as a cash earn-out, subject to Westcon Americas meeting certain agreed gross profit performance targets. The maximum consideration of $830 million equated to an equity valuation of the total Westcon-Comstor division of $1.1 billion.

Logicalis made two acquisitions throughout the year. Logicalis and its Indonesian partner Metrodata, acquired a majority stake in Packet Systems Indonesia (PSI), a leading ICT systems integrator and service company. It also acquired a 51% stake in NubeliU, a South America based company specialising in cloud computing projects based on OpenStack.

Logicalis realised significant value from the sale of its non-core SMC consulting business to DXC Technology Company for US$42 million. Logicalis acquired SMC in March 2013 as one of the four European operations purchased from 2e2. The purchase price attributed to SMC was US$5 million. This represented an eight-fold return on investment which represented a valuation of one times trailing revenues and 15 times trailing EBITDA.

Analysys Mason acquired 100% of the share capital of Nexia Management Consulting AS, a telecoms management consultancy company registered in Norway.

Logicalis acquired Lantares S.L. (Lantares), a Spanish IBM Cognos Partner and professional services provider specialising in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics.

Logicalis made three acquisitions that not only added scale, but also expanded and strengthened the Group’s solutions offering. These included: Trovus, a UK Business Intelligence Consultancy; Advanced Technology Integration Group (ATIG) in the US; and Australian ICT Services and Solutions provider Thomas Duryea.

WestconGroup signed a global distribution agreement with Cisco, a partnership that increased both organisations’ ability to develop new market opportunities, particularly in emerging markets. Westcon acquired Datastor, a New Zealand ICT distribution business. Logicalis acquired Minters GmbH, a German Cisco Systems Partner, as well as NetStar, a leading network infrastructure solutions and managed services provider in the Asia-Pacific region, with branches in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.

Logicalis merged its existing South American operations with those of PromonTecnologia in Brazil to transform Logicalis into the largest network integrator in South America. Datatec acquired a 50.01% stake in Inflow Technologies, an Indian value-added distributor with a footprint in nine major Indian cities and operations in Sri Lanka and Singapore. Both acquisitions were important steps in Datatec’s international strategy to increase its exposure to the world’s major emerging and developing markets.

Westcon completed four acquisitions: NOXS, Crane, ReView Video and Cernet. These opened up new opportunities in convergence, security and mobility in Europe, the USA and Latin America. Group subsidiary Westcon African Middle East acquired a 51% stake in Parnoon-Dynatech to expand its African footprint to seven African countries. Logicalis US acquired Carotek, a leading HP enterprise systems partner. Logicalis was awarded a US$150 million contract to operate a public sector broadband aggregation service for the Welsh Assembly in the UK.

Datatec concluded a BEE transaction with African Legend Technologies. Logicalis made a further three acquisitions, Alliance Consulting, Computech Resources and CSF Solutions. Westcon became the world's largest distributor of Nortel products by adding the distribution operations of Ronco in the USA.

Datatec celebrated its 20th anniversary and reports record revenue. The Group declared a maiden distribution of 30 South African cents per share. In October 2006 Datatec successfully debuted on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Since listing on AIM, Datatec grew its market capitalisation to about US$1 billion to become AIM's largest technology stock.

Logicalis made three strategic acquisitions, all aimed at enhancing the Group’s position as a strategic IBM partner in the US and UK. Analysys Mason Group was formed out of the merger of the Mason Group and Analysys Consulting and Research, which expanded Datatec’s global footprint and positioning to participate in escalating international growth in mobile telephony.

Logicalis, Datatec’s UK-based subsidiary, sold its Australian and New Zealand operations to IBM for US$66 million. This sale resulted from an unsolicited offer from IBM.

Datatec sold its 76% stake in UUNET SA to WorldCom for over US$140 million. The Group made significant advances in its strategy to divest and realign those South African investments and businesses that were no longer core or synergistic to the Group’s business model.

The acquisition of the Manchester-based Mason Advisory Communications, a strategic telecommunications consultancy, equipped Datatec to fulfil its strategy of offering networking-based products and services across the full spectrum of the IT supply chain.

The acquisition of US distributor Westcon Inc. allowed for the consolidation of Datatec’s distribution businesses on five continents under the Westcon brand. The Group successfully achieved the transition from a regional player to being a truly international operation.

Datatec expanded into international markets, with Datatec UK being established as a focused Internet technology and networking solutions value-added distributor after several distribution businesses in the UK were acquired. The acquisition of Logical Networks enabled the Group to offer a wide range of network integration services to blue-chip companies in the UK and Europe.

UUNET Internet Africa was founded as a joint venture between Datatec and UUNET Technologies to offer extensive national and international access to the Internet, as well as specialised design and support services.

Datatec successfully listed on Johannesburg’s Stock Exchange (JSE) and raised R9 million by way of an initial public offering. Its listing placed the Group in a strong position to take advantage of the expanding data communications and networking market of the time. Revenues and profits lifted significantly in the first reporting period. A third business division called PIPEX SA was established in the same year.

Datatec was founded in 1986 as a distributor of networking access and communications solutions. It initially comprised two separate business divisions: Datatec Networking and Communications, and POStec. Jens Montanana is the founder and chief architect behind Datatec.