CFO leaves Bytes on sound footing

Bytes Technology Group, the UK company spun out of Altron, says group CFO Keith Richardson is retiring after nearly three decades with the company. The software, security and cloud services specialist made the announcement on Tuesday in a trading update for the six months to end-June in which it forecast “highteens ” growth in earnings.

Bytes Technology Group, the UK company recently spun out of SA IT group Altron, says group CFO Keith Richardson is retiring after nearly three decades with the company.

The software, security and cloud services specialist made the announcement on Tuesday in a trading update for the six months to end-June in which it forecast “high-teens” growth in earnings.

COO Andrew Holden “will assume leadership of our finance function as acting CFO of Bytes with immediate effect”, the company said in a statement. Richardson will remain with the company while a permanent replacement is being sought. Holden was COO of Altron for five years, during which time he briefly held the role of CFO.

In the trading update Bytes said it “delivered year-on-year low-teens percentage growth in gross profit and high-teens growth in adjusted operating profit”, driven by growing corporate and public sector demand for its products and services. Cash collections and conversion have remained strong and operating expenses have also “benefited from ongoing efficiencies”, it said.

Bytes is the biggest reseller of tech giant Microsoft’s products in the UK and is chasing a market of 42,000 private-sector companies, which collectively spent about £105bn (R2.1-trillion) on IT in 2019.

The company has a 3% share in the UK software market, valued at £23.4bn two years ago. This is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5%, up to £30.1bn by 2024.

“We are pleased with our first-half performance, with the twin benefits of strengthening corporate demand and continued growth in public sector spend ensuring we closed out the period ahead of expectations,” CEO Neil Murphy said in the statement.

Bytes listed on the London Stock Exchange in December, with a secondary inward listing on the JSE, after a demerger that created R13bn in value for Altron shareholders. Altron had argued that the true value of the UK business was not fully reflected in its share price.

Since listing, the company’s market capitalisation has grown to R24.6bn, with the share price rising about 50%.

In morning trade, the share price was down 0.51% at R102.47.

WE ARE PLEASED WITH OUR FIRST-HALF PERFORMANCE … WE CLOSED OUT THE PERIOD AHEAD OF EXPECTATIONS