JSE-listed technology group Mustek has officially become a technology investment holding company, it said in its annual report.
On 26 June 2026, Mustek’s operating business joined other firms under the new holding company. This ended the group’s 39 years as a traditional IT distributor, MyBroadband reported. Mustek has a market value of about R830 million.
“At its strategy workshop on 26 June 2026, the Board approved a landmark decision to separate the group into an investment holding company and Mustek’s operating business,” Mustek said.
“This is a move that sharpens focus and positions the group for its next chapter of growth,” the company said.
The change was announced in the integrated annual report for the year ended 30 June 2026. In the same results, Mustek said its net profit after tax rose 171.1% to R107.61 million. It made R39.70 million in the 2025 financial year.
Headline earnings per share rose 181.3% to 204.58 cents, up from 72.73 cents. Group revenue stayed flat at R7.2 billion.
The company said lower financing costs, foreign exchange gains and tighter spending drove the jump. Operating expenses fell to R744.2 million from R764.3 million the year before.
Mustek said its business has four divisions. These are distribution, training, manufacturing and assembly, and service.
The distribution division sells products through resellers and large retail chains, and includes Mustek Operations and Rectron. Training is offered through Mecer Inter-Ed, which runs international IT courses and certifications.
The manufacturing division assembles IT hardware and makes optical fibre cables and steel server cabinets. It includes the partly owned firms CPS Technologies and YOA Cables.
Service is the biggest division. It offers systems integration, IT, energy, cybersecurity and AI services. It includes 51%-owned Business AI, 70%-owned Cyberantix and 36%-owned Khauleza IT Solutions.
Mustek was founded in 1987 by the late David Kan, a Taiwanese immigrant. He came to South Africa after graduating from Pittsburgh State University in the US in 1986.
Kan started the company as an ICT distributor after meeting business partner Owen Chen at a PC exhibition in Johannesburg. Chen later became Mustek’s managing director.
The group’s computers were sold under the Mecer brand, which grew popular thanks to low prices. By 2005, Mecer and Hewlett-Packard each held 20% of the South African PC market. That meant one in five computers sold in the country was a Mecer.
Mustek’s head office in Randjespark, Midrand, houses its main warehouse and the Mecer assembly plant. It employs 683 workers, about 68% of the group’s staff.
In recent years the group has also started selling DJI drones, data centre hardware, cybersecurity software and optical fibre cables.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.