Cape Town - The Laser Group planned to move its listing from the transport sector to the services sector of the JSE Securities Exchange, but would have to wait until the stock exchange completed its own recategorisation, Michael Fuller, the chief executive officer of the company, said on Friday.
Fuller said the transfer of the listing was essential to more accurately reflect the activities of the company. Until September 1999 Laser was a removals group which also offered recruitment and corporate relocation services. Because of the cyclical nature of the removals market and pressure on margins Laser had been re-engineered.
The company had two divisions, Laser Logistics Solutions and Laser Human Resource Solutions. The divisions were positioned to help companies improve their supply chain and human resource returns.
Fuller said the board would be strengthened with the appointment at the annual meeting on September 6 of Bill McAdam as chairman.
He said McAdam already played a substantial role in the direction of Laser and while the appointment was to the position of non-executive chairman, McAdam would continue to play a prominent strategic role.
Laser's chairman for the past five years, Tony Williamson, would remain on the board as a non-executive director.
Fuller said Laser was trading according to management expectations. In the 18 months to March this year, Laser reported headline earnings of R23,7 million, while the loss for the year to September 30 1999 came in at R35,7 million.
Laser Logistics Solutions comprises air express company Dawn Wing Couriers, Mainline Carriers, warehousing and distribution company Lasertrans and the group's freight and forwarding interests.
Aggressive growth was expected in its forwarding, warehousing, distribution, consulting and outsourcing services in the logistics field.
Laser Human Resource Solutions aimed to capitalise on the trend to outsource human resource services. It launched virtuallyHR with I-Net Bridge. This became the internet-based human resources hub of its business-to-business portal.
The division had acquired Gentia Software, which has the agency for increasingly popular software to align company performance with strategy and human performance.
Laser was untraded at R2,90 on the JSE on Friday.