Metrofile appoints a second new CFO

METROFILE Holdings has appointed its second chief financial officer (CFO) in a space of four months, following the departure of Kelebogile Dludla earlier this month.

Dludla was appointed to the position on November 15 last year but resigned on March 8 without giving reasons for her early departure.

The group, an information and records management company, then appointed Leon Thompson on an interim basis while it was searching for a permanent replacement.

However, on Friday Metrofile moved swiftly in announcing the appointment of Shivan Mansingh as its new CFO and executive director, effective April 1, 2019.

“Mansingh has served as the CFO of Torre Industries, which is in the process of delisting from the JSE, since August 2016 and prior to joining Torre, Mansingh worked at Exxaro Resources and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he specialised in group reporting as well as the audits of multinational JSE-listed companies,” the group said.

Metrofile is Africa’s market leader in records and information management, offering a range of physical storage and digital services, as well as the confidential destruction and recycling of records.

The group operates in the Middle East and African countries, where it is showing some steady growth.

Metrofile released its financial results on Friday where it reported a 7.5 percent increase in revenue to R490.2 million for the six months to end December, mainly due to its Kenya acquisition and a good performance by CSX Customer Services.

Metrofile recorded revenue growth of 55 percent from its operations outside South Africa, despite the unresolved socio-economic and political disruption in the Gulf Co-operation Council states of the Middle East.

However, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation declined by 3 percent to R123.7m, while basic earnings per share was down by 45.2 percent to 10.2 cents a share.

The group also reported a 34.6 percent decline in its headline earnings per share to 10.2c.

“The decrease was largely due to the material higher interest charge and the higher effective tax rate of 40 percent for the period,” the group said.

The board declared an interim scrip dividend of 5c, with a cash alternative.

The group has also been eyeing growth prospects outside of South Africa as they still offer significant growth opportunities, particularly in Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia.

In January last year, Metrofile acquired a 100 percent shareholding in Metrofile Records Management in Kenya, formerly known as G4S, for R259.4m, which was paid in cash.