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The more you share the more you kno... Taking the gap leaves big hole... Service that is more than just pretty p... Ready to tap Internet's potential... All set to become a major force... Get in the swing with Ernie ... Hired guns taking aim at business target... Vital role for information provider... Turning couch potatoes into mouse potato... Interim plan, lasting succes... Downsizing not always up to the require... Taking the guesswork out of productio... The firm which took Toco's bull by the h... Fads dropped in favour of fact... Companies still keen to consul... |
Service that is more than just pretty picturesWHEN M-Web Holdings lists on the JSE this week, capitalised to the tune of R550-million, it will underline the attention South African investors are paying to Internet companies. Although chief executive officer Antonie Roux insists that M-Web is a media company, it is a media company that is riding on the so-called fourth wave - the Internet. Roux, one of the founder members of pay-TV station M-Net, says M-Web is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities the Internet provides to its customers and investors. "M-Net (Electronic Media Network) and its paper and ink industry shareholders represent the first three tiers of media - print, radio and TV. M-Web is the fourth wave, the one that makes it interactive," he says. Most media are one-way, the exception being talk radio. With the Internet, however, content providers and viewers can maintain a two-way link. "We are seeing the convergence of devices like the PC and TV sets. This year, South Africans will be able to interact with their TVs for the first time. Any day now they will be able to shop at the country's leading retailers for their PCs. This is not just talk any more - our plan is to deliver content and substance to make the Net more than just pretty pictures," says Roux. M-Web was formed in January 1997, following holding company MIHH's acquisition of World Net Africa and CompuServe in December 1996 as an extension of its multimedia and entertainment interests. Since then, M-Web has acquired service provider PiX Internet, as well as the controlling interest in Electronic Mail & Guardian. Says Roux: "We realised three years ago that the Internet was going to have a fundamental impact on society. Our acquisitions mean that we have not had to start from scratch so we have not been delayed in our pursuit of understanding the dynamics of the Internet business. "We have analysed successes and failures and come up with a business plan. We are a media group, not an information technology group, and will focus on Internet content as well as the leased line and dial-up services." M-Web is already number two in dial-up services and has a significant corporate presence in the leased line market which it intends to grow. Branding has been one of M-Web's success stories. "We want to be in a position where M-Web and Internet are interchangeable terms like Xerox became a synonym for photocopying," Roux says. Today the M-Web site has, in conjunction with the Electronic Mail and Guardian, become the most visited site in South Africa, according to the Audit Bureau of Internet Standard's figures. M-Web offers a wide spectrum of interactive and other services ranging from general entertainment, news and sport to expert forums and E-commerce. "In view of the phenomenal growth of the corporate and residential sector of the Internet, M-Web is making big investments in the expansion of its network and technical infrastructure, as well as in people," says Roux. "We aim to be the leading South African provider of access to, and information from, the Internet." M-Web is gaining about 1 000 new customers every week. It is the second-largest South African Internet service provider to the residential market, and rapidly expanding its share of the corporate market. "The separate listing of M-Web will allow us to focus solely on the Internet. The capital raised will fund M-Web's operating cash flow, working capital and capital expenditure over the next three years." Roux says the listing on the JSE will allow the management of MIHH to concentrate on expanding its business both locally and abroad. It will also give M-Web greater visibility and credibility, not only within the local financial community, but also internationally. Roux says that in five years residential and business Internet markets in South Africa will be a huge industry. MIHH will spin off its Internet business, M-Web Holdings, as a separate company. M-Web will be capitalised to the tune of R550-million. MIHH intends raising about R350-million through a renounceable rights offer to its ordinary shareholders, while the balance will be funded from its own resources. Following the rights offer, the shares of M-Web Holdings will be unbundled as a dividend to all MIHH shareholders on a one-for-one basis. These MIH/M-Web shares will be listed on the JSE as linked units with MIHH on the basis of one M-Web share for one MIHH share.
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