* To sell 75 pct stake in Altech West Africa
* First-half earnings down 19 pct
* Shares down nearly 7 pct
(Adds details)
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 26 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Allied
Technologies said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell
its majority stake in its money-losing Nigerian business, its
latest attempt to stem losses from outside its home market.
The telecom and IT firm, which also reported a 19 percent
fall in first-half profit, has been trying to turn around
money-losing business in both East and West Africa.
Altech last year replaced the head of its underperforming
Kenyan data unit and named a new team to lead its east African
operation. Sorting out that business was a “top priority”, it
said at the time.
Altech said in a statement it had agreed to sell its 75
percent in Altech West Africa, which produces vouchers for
mobile network operators and has been losing money for the last
18 months.
It did not give further details of the deal.
The company reported diluted headline earnings of 123 cents
per share for the six months to end-August, from 153 cents in
the same period a year earlier.
Shares of Altech closed down nearly 7 percent before the
announcement, underperforming a nearly 2 percent decline in the
broad All-share index.
(Reporting by David Dolan; Editing by Ed Cropley)
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