Roy Cokayne
PROMINENT fleet management, stolen vehicle recovery and insurance telematics group Cartrack Holdings is planning to list on the main board of the JSE.
Zak Calisto, the global chief executive of Cartrack, said yesterday it had received pre-approval from the JSE for a listing and its memorandum of incorporation had also been approved.
The group’s final prelisting statement would be submitted to the JSE today for approval, he said.
Calisto added the only reason Cartrack would not list now was if it did not get sufficient investors subscribing for its shares.
He said Cartrack had achieved good growth over the years and more significant growth in the past few years by entering markets outside South Africa.
“The listing will uplift Cartrack’s profile as a brand and the group’s credibility and assist us with our future growth,” he said.
Calisto declined to confirm at this stage how much money they hoped to raise from the listing but indicated they intended to float up to 47 percent of the company’s shares, with the current shareholders retaining a minimum 53 percent of the company.
Calisto, with an 88 percent shareholding, and Cartrack sales director Juan Marais with 12 percent, are the group’s current shareholders.
He said some of the proceeds from the listing would be used to settle the group’s loan account.
Calisto said apart from South Africa, Cartrack was operating in another 11 countries in Africa, three countries in Asia in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines and three countries in Europe, including Poland, Spain and Portugal.
“We’re hoping to open in another seven countries in Asia in the next 12 to 18 months. We see Asia as a big growth region,” he said.
Calisto said Cartrack currently had a subscriber base in excess of 400 000 units, with about 75 percent of this in South Africa and the balance outside the country.
However, Calisto believed there would be an equal split between its subscriber base in South Africa and in foreign countries within the next four to five years, which would give the group “a nice mix and a currency hedge”.
Calisto added that the insurance telematics business was in its embryonic stage and there was currently an equal split in South Africa between its fleet management and stolen vehicle recovery businesses.
“Even six years ago 90 percent to 100 percent of our business in South Africa was stolen vehicle recovery. In five to seven years, we expect fleet management to account for close to 80 percent of our business in South Africa.
“Stolen vehicle recovery currently accounts for 20 percent of our business outside South Africa and fleet management 80 percent,” he said.
Cartrack was founded in 2001 and has grown over a decade into a leading vehicle technologies solutions group.
John Edmeston, the global chief financial officer and global deputy chief executive at Cartrack, said the group was a consistently profitable business with strong financial metrics.
Edmeston said Cartrack had achieved annual growth rates in both revenues and net profit of more than 20 percent in the recent years and boasted an audited stolen vehicle recovery success rate of 94 percent.
Calisto said there were many exciting opportunities ahead for Cartrack.