South African IT firm Westcon to divest Indian interests

JOHANNESBURG: Westcon, a unit of multi-listed South African IT company Datatec, is to divest its Indian interest, a report said.

"Datatec has been reviewing its venture in India for the last year and has decided for various reasons that the current structure cannot provide the operational certainty required by the business," Jens Montanana told the weekly 'IT Week', without spelling out the reasons.

In a revised trading update statement in the wake of poorer than expected performance in the US and Europe, Datatec said Westcon will divest from its current India venture and discussions with partners have started.

The Indian investment to date is not significant to the group, the statement noted.

Westcon Group is the world's leading speciality distributor of advanced network technology solutions.

Datatec, listed on both the Johannesburg and London Securities Exchanges, had been escalating its presence in the world's major emerging markets including Africa, India and the Middle East.

Datatec said its gross margin expansion continued throughout the year and Latin America has again proved to be its strongest market.

The company said revenue should come in between USD 5.2 billion to USD 5.3 billion, slightly lower than its previous estimate of about USD 5.4 billion, when results are published next month.