4Sight Holdings grew revenue by 29.3% in the six months to August, but most of the growth came from reselling software at thin margins, and profit rose far more slowly.
Revenue increased to R748.3-million from R578.7-million, the JSE-listed technology group said in its interim results on Thursday. Gross profit rose only 2.2% to R259.6-million, and the gross margin fell to 34.7% from 43.9%, which 4Sight attributed to “a significant increase in SaaS (software-as-a-service) revenue” with lower margins.
Operating profit rose 11.8% to R53.9-million, helped by operating expenses that were flat at R205.1-million. Headline earnings per share rose 10.9% to 7.49c, well short of the 46% growth 4Sight reported for the year to February.
The channel partner cluster, which distributes software from Microsoft, Sage and others through a network of resellers, accounted for most of the growth. Its revenue jumped 68% to R365.7-million, but its operating profit was flat at R21.6-million (2025: R21.9-million) as it “absorbed the effect of a higher share of lower-margin SaaS revenue and competitive conditions in the reseller market”. Across the group, SaaS revenue rose 51% to R491.3-million, while software licence revenue fell 36% to R25-million.
The other clusters were mixed:
- Operating profit in the cluster that houses 4Sight’s data, AI and automation services rose 59% to R18.2-million, which the company put down to projects maturing into larger, multi-workstream programmes.
- The information technologies cluster, which sells and supports business applications such as ERP and payroll systems, grew operating profit by 3% to R23.5-million on slightly lower revenue.
- Operating profit in the operational technologies cluster, which serves mining and industrial customers, fell 17% to R16.9-million because of margin pressure in mining and weak orders in the previous financial year. 4Sight said its order book has since strengthened.
The loss in the shared services cluster narrowed to R26.3-million from R28.3-million. 4Sight credited “organisational optimisation and the adoption of AI-driven automation technologies”.
Africa slips
Revenue from South Africa rose 59% to R584.7-million, but revenue from the rest of Africa fell 28.5% to R128.2-million.
Cash generated from operations fell to R32.4-million from R38.5-million. Trade receivables rose 65% to R269.8-million between February and August, outpacing revenue growth, though trade payables also rose, by 45%, as resale volumes grew. Cash balances fell 3.5% to R108-million after 4Sight paid its final dividend and an earn-out instalment for its acquisition of X4 Solutions and XFour Technology.
The results statement devotes most of its outlook to “super intelligence”, which it calls the group’s “next strategic horizon” while acknowledging that it “remains a hypothetical future capability”. – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
