Mustek vs Alviva — Battle of South Africa’s biggest ICT distributors

When it comes to the distribution of ICT equipment in South Africa, two companies stand out from the rest — Alviva Holdings and Mustek.

Although other significant players exist in the market, such as Esquire and Frontosa, these are the only companies with ICT Distribution businesses listed on the JSE.

Mustek is the older of the two distribution giants, founded in 1987 by well-known South African entrepreneur David Kan.

While it’s perhaps best known for its in-house Mecer brand of PCs, UPSes and inverters, it also distributes a wide range of ICT hardware and software from numerous reputed global manufacturers.

Mustek’s full complement of third-party hardware and software partners in South Africa is shown below.

Alviva Holdings initially conducted its business as Pinnacle Africa, an ICT hardware assembler and distributor similar to Mustek, but founded a few years later — in 1993.

Its rapid growth led to Pinnacle diversifying its offerings and rebranding itself as Alviva Holdings in 2017 to better distinguish between its different businesses.

In addition to Pinnacle, it acquired two more major distributors in Axiz and Tarsus Distribution.

The infographic below shows all of the third-party partners for which these three companies distribute products and services in South Africa.

Comparing the financial performance of Alviva and Mustek is easy when looking at the companies as a whole.

However, it gets more complicated if one only wished to analyse their distribution businesses.

Alviva does not provide a full breakdown of the financials applicable to its business segments or the companies under each segment.

Most of its financial figures include its Services and Solutions and Financial services, which cover a range of businesses in other verticals like renewable energy.

It is only in revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) that we can get an idea of the contribution of its ICT Distribution on its own.

Mustek’s financial results also include the combined numbers of its Distribution, Training, Manufacturing, and Service and Support divisions.

Alviva dominates in most areas

Alviva’s revenue for its 2021/2022 financial year in the ICT Distribution segment was R18.7 billion, almost double Mustek’s R8.9 billion during the same period.

Alviva’s EBITDA was also about double that of Mustek’s — at R888.8 million compared to R456 million.

The company also recorded much higher gross and net profits, although these numbers included all of its divisions.

While Mustek had gross and net profits of R1.3 billion and R225 million, Alviva’s businesses produced R3.5 billion in gross profit and R918.7 million in net profit.

Although both companies’ share prices have performed well — particularly compared to some other major technology and telecoms businesses in South Africa — Alviva’s has been remarkable in light of the current economic situation.

Between the close of markets on 25 November 2021 and 24 November 2022, its share price rose from R150 to around R235, a surge of about 57%.

Over the same period, Mustek’s share price went from R133 to R143, a much more modest 7.5% increase.

Over the longer term, however, the picture is very different.

Mustek’s share price has increased by around 170% in the past five years, while Alviva’s grew by about 29%.

The table below compares some of the financial performance indicators from the two companies’ most recent financial years, while the graphs underneath compare the performance of their share prices over the past year.

Alviva — Up 56.6% from 24 November 2021

Mustek — Up 7.5% from 24 November 2021

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