One of Altron’s big shareholders has brushed aside concern about the group’s growth prospects after the departure of senior managers, including CEO Mteto Nyati who was instrumental in reviving the IT services group during his five years with Altron.
“Mteto has left a very strong team at Altron and we do not have leadership concerns,” said Sam Sithole, a director at Value Capital Partners (VCP), which owns a 15% stake in Altron.
In addition to Nyati’s departure at the end of June, Altron has lost other executives who were part of its turnaround. Andrew Holden, previously COO, left recently for its former subsidiary Bytes Technology in the UK. Former CFO Cedric Miller departed in June 2021. Group executive for marketing and communications Zipporah Maubane left in February that year. The exodus prompted Irnest Kaplan of Kaplan Equity Analysts to express concern.
“I think the next two years will be challenging. The economic climate is also tough. I also think the departure of key top executives over the past two years can’t be good for stability,” Kaplan said.
But Sithole said the leadership, including interim CEO Stewart van Graan, is strong enough to carry the group.
Altron was floundering when Sithole’s firm, which he runs with Antony Ball, invested R400m for a stake in the technology group in December 2016. That deal was instrumental in getting Nyati to Altron and marked the end of the Venter family’s control of the company.
Nyati, a former CEO of MTN SA and MD of Microsoft SA, joined Altron in 2017 where he led the company’s transition from a family business managed by founder Bill Venter and his son Robbie, the former CEO.
Sithole said Nyati had “a highly successful tenure” and “managed to transition the business from the family management to an independent professionally run outfit.”
Sithole said Altron's various operating units also have strong leadership.
“The Altron businesses are separate business units, each with a separate MD and CFO as well as executive team,” he said. “One cannot replace a leader of the stature of Mteto. However, what Altron and Mteto have been good at is creating a strong leadership bench at the various business units to ensure succession is seamless”.
The former Venter family business is barely recognisable, having staked its future on a relationship with software giant Microsoft, the growth of cloud services and partnerships in the automotive sector.
Nyati will leave with a number of accomplishments under his belt, most notable of which was the demerger with former subsidiary Bytes and the reorganisation of the business into one brand serving clients in financial services, health and manufacturing.
Under his tenure, Bytes was listed on the London Stock Exchange in December 2020, with a secondary inward listing on the JSE, after a demerger that created R13bn in value for its shareholders. Altron had argued that the true value of the UK business was not fully reflected in its share price.
In addition, Nyati dealt with an investigation of improper dealings by three Altron Nexus executives, and also won a long legal battle with the City of Tshwane over a broadband contract.
The challenge for the new CEO will be bedding down the new acquisitions, and possibly crafting his or her blueprint for continued growth.
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