TECHNOLOGY

Irdeto grew its revenues from pay-TV, mobile TV and IPTV services by 24% to R1 billion. Some 10,7 million smart cards and security chips were shipped during the period. With the acquisition of a middleware company, IDWay, and the group’s customer care and billing business, Irdeto now provides an end-to-end solution for its pay-television customers.

In a further diversification of its security foundation Irdeto acquired Cloakware. This unit offers software protection products via software applications.

Entriq continued to grow top-line revenues while expanding its abilities as a technology provider enabling content providers and aggregators to distribute and get paid for entertainment and sports video over broadband. New customer acquisition was generated from internal growth and the purchase of DayPort and Entriq is now being integrated with Irdeto on an operational level.

DIVIDEND

The board has recommended that the annual dividend be increased by 15% to 180 cents (previously 156 cents) per N ordinary share and 36 cents (previously 31 cents) per unlisted A ordinary share. If approved by the shareholders, the dividends will be payable to shareholders recorded in the share register on 5 September 2008 and will be paid on 8 September 2008. The last date to trade cum dividend will be 29 August 2008.

STRATEGY AND PROSPECTS

Looking ahead, our growth strategy remains focused on three legs: organically expanding existing businesses, developing new opportunities and seeking attractive investments. Geographically, our attention remains mostly on emerging markets, as these still offer good opportunities for growth. The group has made some substantial investments over the past two years and these will be further developed. Our aim remains to deliver value to our shareholders over the medium and longer term.

Financial performance in the period ahead will be influenced by the timing of regulatory approvals for ventures such as mobile television and the development of internet opportunities. Such services, when launched, typically have an initial negative impact on both earnings and cash flows before they start contributing. In the pay-television segment the level of competition is also expected to intensify.
In South Africa we expect the slowdown in consumer spending to continue. This will have a dampening effect on advertising and circulation revenues. However, in the past pay television has proven resilient to the economic cycle. The macroeconomic conditions in our other principal markets are expected to remain buoyant in the year ahead.


15%		increase in annual dividend to 180 cents

Chairman’s review

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