Computer Warehouse Group Plc is targeting revenue of N16.5bn and profit after tax of N300m for the current financial year. Speaking on the business outlook for the remaining part of the year, Austin Okere, founder/chief executive officer of CWG, said the Company plans to further execute and recognise revenues from the traditional brick and mortar business which shall see a 46 percent increase in revenue from quarter third quarter (Q3) numbers to N16.5bn by year end, and a correspondingly higher 61 per cent increase in profit after tax to N300m.
“This reflects a continuing improvement in margins with a greater efficiency in our operations, and good focus on the growth of our managed services. The company is firmly focused on scaling her new subscription businesses, under the CWG2.0 umbrella, in order to see a change in the profitability trend by half of 2015,” Okere said.
According to him, the Group has made great strides in the introduction of its new subscription based business lines.
“The first amongst them, the SMERP, a cloud-based ERP product is ready for roll out and is currently being tested by a few organisations. There are also on-going discussions with multilateral organisations, focused on SMEs and achieving inclusive growth in Nigeria, to collaborate on the roll out of this product,” he said. He added that there is also the flagship e-commerce technology platform, Openshopen.ng, a product, he said, was running a beta test with a few organisations, with the plan for a mass rollout in the first quarter of 2015.
“There is also the free to air services which the group will be offering in collaboration with the second largest satellite provider in Europe. This service would launch with 30 TV channels and is planned to be launched in quarter 4, this year. CWG’s smart grid solution to Electricity distribution Companies (DISCOS) is at POC stage with two of the largest Discos in Nigeria and we expect that this new line of business will be at implementation stage by Q3 2015,” he said.
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According to him, CWG will continue to focus in growing the brand through initiatives directed towards empowering the African entrepreneur.
“This would be done by making IT available to SMEs on a subscription basis, thereby lowering the entry barriers to the use of information technology, and facilitating inclusive growth in the continent,” he said.
He said the decline in company’s revenue and profit in Q3 of 2014 reflected the de-emphasis on its traditional business segment and a shift in the company’s business model towards subscription based lines of business.
“The declining sales are partly reflective of some changes in procurement pattern for ICT goods generally. As part of seeking efficiencies in ICT procurements, users’ procurement processes are increasingly stretched, to find best value from competing offers,” he said.
He said in spite of the challenges, the financial position of the group remains strong with adequate liquidity, leverage and efficiency ratios.
