Technology services company EOH's headline loss a share for the financial year ended July 31 widened by 208% year-on-year to R16.81, while its net asset value decreased by 68% year-on-year to R1.96-billion.
“The past 12 months have been very difficult for EOH. We have spent extensive time focusing on cleaning up the business both from a governance and financial perspective, as well as understanding the group’s strategic capabilities," CEO Stephen van Coller commented on Tuesday.
The group in July reported that suspicious transactions valued at R1.2-billion had been identified in an investigation undertaken by ENSafrica.
The investigation is now about 80% complete and the value of suspicious transactions has decreased to R935-million, EOH stated.
This amount includes transactions with no evidence of valid contracts being in place or where no work was done, valued at R665-million; R90-million of loans written off and overbilling valued at about R180-million.
"The ENSafrica investigation team have also been able to confirm the key modus operandi that was used by the main perpetrators to commit wrongdoing at EOH which involved enterprise development partners and intermediaries.
"EOH has suspended payments to and blacklisted 50 enterprise development business partners implicated in suspect payments. Some of these partners have initiated legal challenges against the company; however, EOH is committed to ensuring that all perpetrators of wrongdoing are held accountable for their actions. EOH is accordingly robustly opposing legal challenges brought by such parties," the group reported.
It also pointed out that the ENSafrica investigation had confirmed that the main perpetrators of wrongdoing were a small group of individuals in the public sector team.
"Apart from this type of wrongdoing, the investigation has also identified various opportunistic incidents of fraud and theft to the prejudice of EOH. This has resulted in the company initiating disciplinary measures which has led to the termination of employment relationships with a number of individuals."
EOH assured shareholders that it was "actively pursuing" criminal charges against individuals implicated in wrongdoing and that it had initiated legal processes to recover losses incurred as a result of wrongdoing.
"While there is much still to do, the path is much clearer. In the short term, we will focus on continuing to deleverage our balance sheet while implementing governance changes and, over the longer term, we remain steadfast in a vision of a more synergised and focused offering that is well positioned to take advantage of the next wave of change in the information and communications technology industry," said Van Coller.