Tech shares dive as JSE struggles
Leading tech shares were among some of the casualties on the JSE on Monday (8 October) as the value of the rand continued to depreciate amid continuing mine and transport strikes.
The rand traded at R8.9945 to the dollar in morning trade, before regaining some ground against the greenback in the afternoon session.
While the All Share Index declined 0.69% to 36,337 points at close, telecoms stocks waivered 3.36% to 72,914 points, led by MTN Group, off R5.97, or 3.78%, to R151.86.
The telecoms operator is taking strain as a result of economic woes in Iran, its third largest region in terms of revenue.
MTN, through its 49% ownership in Irancell, boasts 38.3 million subscribers in Iran and accounted for approximately R6.5 billion of R66.43 billion in total revenue accumulated by MTN Group in its most recent interim report.
Rival operator, Vodacom, declined 89 cents to R100.99, having traded as high as R112.22 in mid-September.
ICT group, Altech was also a big loser on Monday, shipping R3.58, or 7.67% to R43.12.
At the end of last month, Allied Technologies (Altech) reported a R420 million loss in results from operating activities for the six month period ending August 2012, from a R283 million profit in 2011.
The group’s revenue increased by 6.8% to R5.2 billion, and its operating profit before capital items was 13.5% lower than that of the prior period; this, mainly due to losses incurred in Altech’s operations in East and West Africa.
Altech’s parent company Altron lost 52 cents or 2.31% to R21.98.
IT distributor, Mustek was off 22 cents, or 3.69%, to R5.75. The group’s earnings are dependent on the performance of the rand.
The group uses the Rand/USD spot rate at the beginning of each month to determine its selling prices, with adjustments made during the month should the exchange rate change substantially.
In late August Mustek posted a 13.6% drop in its headline earnings per share for the year ended June 2012, to 71.37 cents citing rand volatility.
Small cap Information Security Architects (ISA) on Monday (8 October) announced a decline in revenue for the six months ended August 2012, to R29.96 million, from R36.39 million before.
ISA provides information security solutions that enable companies to better manage the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their mission-critical IT resources.
Profit before taxation slipped to R7.31 million, from R9.37 million.
Shares in the group slumped nine cents, or as much as 14.52%, to 53 cents.
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