Who’s buying SATC?

BOTH SAA and SATC
(South African Travel
Centre) have confirmed
that a decision has been
taken by SAA (as the
shareholder of SATC) on the
long-awaited privatisation of
the franchise through a sale
of shares.
The privatisation has
been in the pipeline since
March 2014 but delays and
obstacles led to an exodus
of franchisees, taking the
number of franchises from
the 86 it had in 2008, down
to the 33 it shows on its
website today.
“The transaction is
currently going through the
approval process. We are
waiting for the Minister’s
response to our application
to divest SATC from SAA,”
spokesperson for SAA, Tlali
Tlali, told TNW.
SATC acting ceo, Yvonne
Sprowson, said in a
Management Representation
letter submitted in
Parliament recently, that
the SATC board resolved
that it had recommended
a management buy-out by
SATC management via a
sale of shares by the SAA
board.
Although potential
investors have not been
identified yet, SATC recently
affiliated all its preferred
deals under XL Travel.
Marco Ciocchetti, ceo of
XL Travel Group, remained
tightlipped about whether XL
would look into buying out
SATC. “As in any business,
we will keep all our options
open,” he said.
SATC’s results have taken
a hit over the years. For the
year ended March 2016,
the company made an
after-tax loss of R977 000,
which was an improvement
over the R3,6m loss of
the previous year. Revenue
decreased from R17,3m in
2014/15 to about R8m in
2015/16.
According to the SATC
financial report, SATC’s
liabilities also exceed its
assets by R15m. However,
the directors say they are
confident that SATC has
adequate financial resources
to continue operations for
the foreseeable future.