Datatec praises Westcon and Logicalis

South Africa-based IT group singles out UK arms as it celebrates a fourth year of positive financials

Datatec has lavished praise on both its Westcon and Logicalis arms after registering a fourth successive year of improvement in financial performance.

In a trading update for its fiscal year ended 28 February, the South Africa-based IT group said it expected annual turnover to rise by 17 per cent to almost $3.5bn.

Datatec draws more than 70 per cent of its sales from networking distribution arm Westcon Group, which it said was on course to hit 10 per cent turnover growth for the year.

Buoyed by acquisitions, Datatec’s integrator arm, Logicalis, is expected to grow turnover by 40 per cent to $750m.

The firm was also hailing a strong increase in its bottom line. Fuelled by margin improvements across the business, group EBITDA is expected to grow from $85m last year to $117m this time around.

And Datatec was hopeful recent acquisitions, including security distributor Noxs (CRN, 5 March) and UK reseller CSF (CRN, 11 December), would continue to drive progress in 2007.

“Together, these acquisitions will continue to improve the group’s vendor product and technology mix, drive a greater services contribution and further develop the recurring revenue base,” the firm stated.

“They will also contribute to the ongoing margin improvement expected in the operating divisions as a result of greater scale and efficiency.”