Huge Group joins the AltX-issues cautionary

Least-cost routing telecoms service provider Huge Group kicked off its AltX debut on Wednesday with a 3% rise in its share price, as it announced that it was in talks that could have an impact on its share price.

Its stock was trading at R3,00 a share at 15:56. Around 1,63-million shares had changed hands.

Huge Group’s major asset is its 100% holding in TelePassport, which offers least-cost routing services, providing telecoms cost savings to customers.

Telepassport CEO Anton Potgieter said in a prelisting statement that the public listing would put the company in a position to take advantage of current industry consolidation and become an acquisitive operation.

“Our aim is to become a leader in the R6-billion least-cost-routing market…it will be easier to compete after listing, as we can then easily fund acquisitions in the voice and data markets to augment growth,” he said.

The company, which is 30% black-owned, began as a least-cost routing firm, but has diversified its offering during the last three years.

 By Matthew Hill