Pretoria - OneLogix has sold a 25 percent stake in the AltX-listed niche logistics group that includes PostNet for R65 million to a broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium, including its black employees led by Sipho Pityana's Izingwe Capital.
In terms of the transaction, Izingwe Capital will acquire a 20 percent stake in OneLogix, the group's 100 percent-owned operating company, and OneLogix black employees will be the beneficiaries of a trust holding a 5 percent interest in the operating company.
The combined stake in the operating company held by Izingwe Capital and the trust will convert to a stake in the listed company within eight years.
To facilitate the transaction, the OneLogix group has provided its operating company with a loan of R65 million, which has to be repaid by the now empowered operating company.
The transaction is subject to JSE, shareholder and other approvals.
Ian Lourens, OneLogix's chief executive, said yesterday that long-serving staff of OneLogix would benefit from the group's growth in terms of the deal.
He said the deal would put the company in a strong position to secure clients in the light of preferential procurement practices.
Pityana, the former director-general of labour and foreign affairs and managing director of Nedbank Strategic Business Development, will join the OneLogix group's board of directors as non-executive chairman.
The BEE transaction was announced when OneLogix reported a 63 percent increase in headline earnings a share to 6.7c on a 46 percent growth in revenue to R106 million in the year to May.
Operating profit rose by 13 percent to R17 million and net profit by 61 percent to R13.1 million.
In line with group policy, no dividend was declared.
Lourens said the group achieved strong organic growth for the year, which represented a significant improvement over 2004.
Strict cash flow management and a disciplined cost regime maintained healthy profit margins within a framework of managed growth and significant capital investment.
Lourens attributed the increase in revenue mainly to the inclusion in the results of former associate company 4Logix, the specialist rail logistics company whose improved cash generation and prospects prompted the group to take the controlling stake in December last year, and the successful debut on to the local auto logistics market by Vehicle Delivery Services.
PostNet continued to benefit from the ongoing refocus of its customer proposition but magazine and newspaper express distributor Media Express continued to feel a squeeze on margins from an extremely price-sensitive market.