A busy week for Microsoft

The European Commission`s temporary suspension of its anti-trust ruling against Microsoft, the latter`s win in a US appeals court, and SSA Global`s acquisition of Marcam dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

At home, the new local Cisco GM appointment and Mthombo IT Services` investment in MB Technologies stole much of the local ICT headline space.

* We saw very good annual numbers from Cape Empowerment Trust (no revenue figures but profit up well over 50%);

* A full-year loss from Casey (although revenue up);

* Satisfactory year-end numbers from Dynamic Cables (revenue down but back in the black);

* A positive trading update from Pinnacle Technology Holdings; and

* The formal de-listing of Aplitec`s shares.

Other local news included:

* A share re-purchase announcement from Reunert;

* Mthombo IT Services` 26% investment in MB Technology`s distribution group (ACT);

* The appointment of Mokati Ramphele as GM for Cisco`s sub-Saharan African region;

* An acquisition by Paracon together with an option on a second one;

* The first ISO 9001:2000 certification by an ISP, DataPro;

* Johnnic Comms sold off its electronic trading hub, TradeWorld, to Tactical Software Systems; and

* Details of the change of control at Casey and its possible re-emergence through its new owner, Level 4 Group Holdings, on the AltX.

Johnnic Comms sold off its electronic trading hub, TradeWorld, to Tactical Software Systems.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

New local distributorships included that of the Sapphire range of ATI graphic cards by Esquire Technologies, iMate Pocket PCs from Carrier Devices by Leaf Wireless, and Macronomy`s products by M-Five Software. A new collaboration agreement has been established between arivia.kom and Tilos.

On the local front, look out for further developments re a CSC SA black empowerment partner and details of UTI Worldwide`s announcement re its South African operations.

On the African scene we saw the appointment of Sifiso Dabengwa as CEO of MTN Nigeria.

* The announcement of a joint venture between NEC and Hitachi for the development and manufacture of Internet-based network equipment such as routers and switches;

* Nortel Networks sold off its remaining manufacturing operations;

* Panasonic Mobile Comms consolidated its 21 sales subsidiaries into one company;

* The compulsory buy-out by France Telecom SA of the 4.05% of shares it doesn`t already own in Wanadoo SA, as a precursor to the de-listing of the latter;

* Microsoft`s victory as an appeals court upheld the US Justice Department`s 2002 settlement ruling; and

* Network Associates changed its name to McAfee.

Additionally, look out for Sun Microsystems` possible acquisition of supercomputer manufacturer Cray, and a major acquisition by BEA Systems.

Other international news included:

* The appointments of Carole Argo as president and COO of SafeNet, Harel Beit-On as chairman of ECTel, Edward Borey as chairman and CEO of WatchGuard Technologies, Reed Harrison as president and COO of Cogent Comms, and Abbas Sadriwalla as chairman and CEO of Datascan Technologies; and

* The resignation of Michael Butcher as COO of PCCW (as of 31 December 2004); the retirement of Gary Anderson as chairman of Dow Corning; and job loss announcements from Maxtor and Opticom ASA.

We saw excellent* figures from ESI (back in the black).

Good figures* were recorded by Astrex, Research in Motion and TMSSequoia (back in the black); and satisfactory* ones by CSI and Vtech Holdings.

Very poor results* came from Nu Horizons Electronics (but back in the black).

Losses* were posted by Acclaim Entertainment, APA Optics, DPAC Technologies, e-Digital, Island Pacific, Merix, MobilePro and Northgate Information Solutions.

Other financial news included analyst upgrades for Cablevision Systems, Citizens Comms, Equinix, InterNAP Network Services, Manugistics and Telecommunication Systems; analyst downgrades for Adtran, Brocade Comms, Cirrus Logic, Citadel Security Software, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Crown Castle International, DRS Technologies, Gtech Holdings, Inet Technologies, M-Systems, Maxtor, McData, Merix, Nortel Networks, Pinnacle Systems, SanDisk, Telmex, TriQuint Semiconductor and Yahoo; private funding obtained for EqualLogic, Navini Networks, Q1 Labs, S2io and Wireless Services; share buy-back announcements from Informatica and KPN; negative results/profit warnings (often veiled) from Amkor Technology, Applied Innovation, Blue Martini Software, Brocade Comms, Colt Telecom, Emulex, eSpeed, Exar, Iona Technologies, Informatica, iPass, Lexar Media, Maxtor, Maxwell Technologies, MSC Software, Overland Storage, Sipex, Sybase, Sypris Solutions and WebMethods; share split announcements from Ariba (reverse 1:6) and VitalStream Holdings (reverse); a poor IPO from Arima Comms; a proposed IPO in London by the end of July from Virgin Mobile; and IPO filings from Dex Media and Ikanos Comms.

Locally

Elexir (+50%)
FrontRange (+14.3%)
Global Technology (+100%)
I-Solutions (-28.6%)
Labat Africa (+11.8%)
MGX (+75%)
Pinnacle (+18.1%)
Stella Vista (-33.3%)
UCS (-11.1%)
Y3K (-50%)

Internationally

Allegiance Telecomms (-24.6%)
Amkor (-31.6%)
Auspex Systems (-33.3%)
ClickSoftware Technologies (+25%)
Colt Telecom (-35.7%)
Daisytek International (-25%)
Elcom International (+25%)
Enherent (-25%)
RCN (+28.8%)
SONICblue (-37.5%)

In terms of indices, Nasdaq was down 0.9% and the JSE down 1.6% for the week.

I will be away for a few days during the next week, so the next column will only appear on 19 July, but will cover the two-week period.

* NB

Guidelines for the categorisation of results are as follows and are always in comparison with the equivalent period for the previous year; pro forma numbers are ignored (the terminology may vary slightly from country to country).

Excellent: Both revenue and net income growth in excess of 50%.
Very good: Both revenue and net income growth in excess of 25%.
Good: Both revenue and net income growth in excess of 10%.
Satisfactory: Revenue is within 10% of previous year and net income is up.
Mediocre: Either revenue and/or net income is down.
Very poor: Net income is less than 1% of revenue.
Loss: A loss has been recorded.