Provenco completes Oz mergers ahead of time

Electronics payment company Provenco Group said its distribution division had completed the merger of its acquisitions in Sydney and Melbourne ahead of time.

The integration of the acquisitions into the Vantex Technology Distribution division was ahead of a planned December deadline and included accounting, business systems, market branding and customer management.

David Ritchie, chief executive of NZX-listed Provenco Group, is pleased the businesses had been integrated smoothly, ahead of time and within financial predictions.

Provenco's distribution division was formed by the purchase of Auckland-based Transtech Distributors in 2003 and Australian firms Javelin Systems and Vantex last year.

Vantex imports and distributes retail and logistics technology and accounts for just under half of Provenco's total revenue.

Vantex would help Provenco stay close to the leading edge of international development, while complementing the eftpos, retail and petrol station payment divisions.

"It enables us to have a good feel for what technologies are coming out around the world for retailers and where technology is moving," Ritchie said.

Vantex would be one of many technology distributors supplying Provenco who would then resell to the final user and similarly Vantex would distribute to other resellers.

Provenco's share price closed down 1c yesterday at 93c.

The share price has risen steadily since a profit downgrade triggered a dramatic sell-off last month which saw the share price slide from 90c to 74c.

The company said at the time that the downgrade was related to timing issues rather than any lost revenue.