EOH shuns big public-sector projects
Newly appointed EOH CEO has taken a radical decision to let go of large public-sector projects
EOH is no longer keen to take on large projects for the public sector, which owes the technology group about R600m, says new CEO Stephen van Coller. Van Coller, who joined the company from MTN in September, said that while the public sector tended to pay on time for annuity-type contracts, state entities were less punctual when it came to multiyear “complex transformational projects”, mainly due to frequent leadership changes. “You end up having three or four bosses while you’re implementing a fairly complex project, and because of all the changes, you also end up with cost overruns.” In the public sector, EOH would now focus on annuity work, he said. Of its long-outstanding public-sector debt, the group had secured payments worth about R70m from the state in the past six weeks. “We’ll continue to work through it. At the moment I’m less worried about write-offs thanabout getting cash in the bank,” Van Coller said. EOH said on Tuesday trading conditions remained difficult, “exacerbat...
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