25 June 2004
	SA's Top 20 Companies 13 ALTECH Total score: 55,1 Historic score: 25 FM's score: 75

Transformation into an information technology, multimedia and telecommunications group has produced seven years of exceptional progress. While consolidating its leading position in SA in sectors including vehicle tracking (Netstar) and cellular phone services (Autopage), Altech has also broken free of a once excessive dependence on the vagaries of the domestic economy. The star of Altech's export drive into 36 countries is UEC, its TV decoder manufacturing operation, which has shown that SA can take on the world's best and succeed. Altech, under CEO Craig Venter, can be expected to remain acquisitive. Its recent purchase of smart-card group NamITech for R560m is a probable precursor of more activity.