TUESDAY, 12.45PM:
RAPIDLY growing Internet service provider M-Web made its debut on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Monday, with shares rising from R22 to R26 over the day’s trade.
M-Web shares are listed jointly with its holding company MIH Holdings, with a plan for M-Web shares to be spun off at a later stage. Shareholders will then be offered the choice of investing in MIH orM-Web.
M-Web CEO Antonie Roux says that MIH aims to raise R350-million through the listing. The capital raised will allow M-Web to gear itself for the further growth anticipated in the corporate and residential Internet markets. “It will fund M-Web’s operating cash flow, working capital and capital expenditure over the next three years,” Roux said.
M-Web is currently growing at the rate of 1000 new customers a week and is South Africa’s second-largest service provider to the residential market.