Cell C celebrates

The international ICT world was focused on the initial flourish of quarterly results that were published. At home, Cell C's first operating profit made local headlines.

* Excellent interim numbers from ConvergeNet. There are no direct comparisons to 2007 due to restructuring and acquisitions.
* Excellent year-end figures from DVT, with revenue up over 60% and profit nearly double.
* Good year-end figures from Datacentrix, with revenue up 12% but profit up 30%.
* Cell C made its first operating profit. Revenue was up 17% to R7.5 billion.
* A negative trading update from Ideco.
* UK-based BAE Systems bought IST Dynamics, the niche defence company that is part of the Ethos group of companies.
* The R135 million acquisition by AltX-listed Simeka of AltX-listed SAB&T Ubuntu Holdings.
* SAB&T Ubuntu acquired Cortell Corporate Performance Management, a BI solutions provider.
* Orion Telecom, part of the Vox Telecom stable, purchased S-Tec, its development partner.
* The EUR490 million disposal by Naspers of NetMed, its Greek and Cypriot pay-TV operations, to Forthnet SA, a Greek telecommunications company.
* The appointments of Ingram Micro as the distributor of Samsung's IT products and Tarsus as a distributor of LG products.
* The resignation of Vuli Cuba, CEO of Safika. Cuba will sell part of his 20% in order to buy-out Safikatel, Safika's ICT subsidiary.

* Nigeria's Local Software Company of the Year award went to Wadof Software Consulting, a developer and implementor of local software solutions.
* Nokia will open a local office in Ghana.

Look out for a possible bid by France Telecom for Sweden-based TeliaSonera, which could be valued at over $54 billion.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* The $42.5 million acquisition by Affiliated Computer Services of Orbital Sciences Corporation's Transportation Management Systems.
* AOL bought Sphere Source, a provider of contextual search tools.
* BT Group purchased Wire One, a video conferencing company.
* Eastman Kodak snapped up Intermate A/S (Denmark), a manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional imaging products.
* IBM acquired Diligent Technologies, a provider of de-duplication technologies.
* Informatica bought Identity Systems, an identity resolution technology company.
* The $1.6 billion acquisition (51%) by TeliaSonera of LMT (Latvia), making the latter fully owned by the former.
* Xerox bought Netherlands-based Veenman BV, a provider of business products and services.
* Zebra Technologies snapped up Multispectral Solutions, a provider of ultra-wideband (UWB) real-time locating systems and other UWB-based wireless technology.
* CA intends to switch its listing from the NYSE to Nasdaq.
* Very good quarterly figures from Google and Nokia.
* Good quarterly numbers from Amdocs, eBay, Etisalat, Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), HCL Technologies, IBM, Infosys Technologies, LG Electronics (back in the black), Seagate Technology and Wipro.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Axis Communications and SanDisk (back in the black).
* Mediocre quarterly results from ASML NV, Intel and Philips Electronics.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Fujitsu Siemens Computers.
* Quarterly losses from AMD and Xerox.

* A possible bid by France Telecom for Sweden-based TeliaSonera, which could be valued at over $54 billion.

* PC revenue in Q108 grew by 14.6% to reach 69.5 million units, with HP, Dell and Acer occupying the top three positions, says IDC.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.5%
* Nasdaq: Up 4.9%
* Top SA share movements: Alliance Mining (+11.8%), Beget Holdings (+16.7%), DVT (+13.7%), FoneWorx (-13.3%), Ideco (-26.8%), Square One (+9.3%), Stella Vista (-25%) and TeliMatrix (-10.7%)

BusinessWeek has published its latest 25 most innovative companies list. From a technology perspective, Apple was number one, followed by Google (two), Microsoft (five), Tata Group (six), Nintendo {seven), Sony (nine) and Nokia (10). Also on the list were Facebook, HP, IBM and Research In Motion.

I am away overseas for a week or so, therefore my next column will appear on Monday, 12 May, but will cover the intervening three-week period.