EDS South Africa on Tuesday said it was looking for a local acquisition but denied what it called market rumor that it might buy the country's biggest technology company Dimension Data.
"EDS is, financially, well placed to consider an acquisition as part of its local growth strategy...but Dimension Data does not form part of our plans at this stage," EDS South Africa chairman Michael Minassian said in a statement.
 |
EDS South Africa spokesman Charles Webster said the group has received a number of calls from "business contacts and journalists" concerning a possible offer for Didata, which has seen its share price tumble close to four-year lows in the past two weeks after it warned of lower annual operating margins.
Didata's share was little changed on the news, trading down 3.7 percent in Johannesburg, in line with weaker technology stocks in other markets.
Didata and many analysts say the announcement was the first they had heard of the so-called rumor.
"I've never heard of it," says Didata spokesperson Karen Cramer, adding the group's lower share price could be to blame for any takeover talk.
"I hadn't even heard it," an analyst says. "EDS South Africa was probably just trying to get some news space."
"Their model is very different from Didata's," another analyst says. "They are a pure outsourcing company and I wouldn't pay too much attention to this."
"EDS is primarily a services company and would not want to purchase a product resale-driven operation,' Minassian says.
About 60 percent of Didata's revenue comes from hardware sales.
EDS South Africa is part of U.S. computer services group Electronic Data Systems. Webster would not give local revenue figures, but says EDS South Africa employed 1,200 people, compared with its parent's worldwide total of 120,000.
He also declined to give details of EDS South Africa's likely local acquisition targets.
Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Reuters shall be not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
|
Five Companies That Came To Win This Week For the week ending Feb. 10, CRN looks at five companies that brought their 'A' game and made moves to beat out competitors |
|
10 Challenges That HP Wants Partners To Tackle Right Now CRN speaks with HP's business unit chiefs to get a sense of where they'd like partners to focus in the coming year, as well as how CEO Meg Whitman is making a difference. |
|
VAR500: IBM Strikes Deal With Ukraine Bank; HP Bolsters Health-Care Practice CRN VAR500 solution providers win health-care contracts, work on European banking solution, create a platform for microlending, sharing info on cloud computing and more. |
 More
Slide Shows |
- Sun, EDS Hope Partnership Will Grow Markets
- Swedish Manufacturer Signs $105 Million Annual Outsourcing Deal With EDS
- EDS Sees 20 Percent 2001 European Sales Growth
- European IP-VPN Market Shows Some Promise
- When Your Customers' Sales Decline, You Can Still Come Out On Top
- Cognizant Sales Soar, Exec Promotions Follow
- VAR500 Company EPAM Systems: IPO Update
- The Daily App: KyWiki for iPad
- The Daily App: Scan To PDF Free For Android
- EDS Agrees To $460 Million Settlement Over Failed CRM Implementation
- Services Help Push HP Q4 Profit Up 14 Percent
