Comdex cancelled due to lack of interest

The $3 billion buy-out of Japanese telecoms company DDI Pocket (see overseas acquisitions summary) and the cancellation of Comdex 2004 dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

* We saw the publication of Cyberhost`s annual results for 2001, 2002 and 2003 following the Section 311 compromise offer; and
* The suspension of Aplitec`s shares.

Other local news included:

* A share re-purchase announcement from Venfin;
* MGX sold off its Midrand property; and
* Business Objects appointed Eryk Markiewicz as its regional marketing manager for the EEMEA region and Gary Broomberg as the new country manager for SA.

Furthermore, on the local front, look out for the purchase of a 25% stake in the local operation of US-based Enterasys Networks.

* Reuters sold off its holding in GL Trade, a Paris-based electronic trading systems company; and
* The cancellation of Comdex 2004 following declining attendance and vendor interest.

International strategic partnerships were announced between France Telecom and Motorola to jointly develop seamless mobile solutions.

Additionally, look out for the potential purchase of Spanish Internet company Terra Networks SA`s Lycos unit, UK-based Eidos and US-based Network Associates; and the fate of Citizens Comms following the expected bids from two private equity consortiums never materialising.

Other international news included:

* The appointments of Mark Creswell as CEO of Neon Systems, Gary Cuccio as CEO of mBlox, Scott Harris as president and COO of Avatech Solutions, and William Hooper as chairman of Borland;
* The resignations of Mike Keough as president and CEO of ClearOne Comms, Harri Koponen as deputy CEO of TeliaSonera, and Reed Taussig as chairman and CEO of Callidus Software; and
* Job loss announcements from EDB Business Partner ASA MCI and Vivendi Universal Games.

Financial Mail`s latest online communications index shows Business Connexion dropping from number two to 20, Reunert becoming the top technology company at number eight and Telkom entering for the first time at 22.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

We saw excellent* figures from FSI International (back in the black) and OmniVision Technologies; and very good* numbers from ADE, ATI Technologies, Micron Technology (back in the black) and Tektronix.

Good figures* were recorded by Cognos, Geac, Gtech Holdings, InterVoice Brite, palmOne, Richardson Electronics (back in the black); and satisfactory* ones by Lawson Software, Methode Electronics and Shaw Comms (back in the black).

Mediocre* returns came from Business Systems (but back in the black), MTI Technology, Neon Systems, OMG, Paychex, Touchstone Group and Verity.

Losses* were posted by 3Com, Conolog, Intraware, Manugistics, PalmSource, Tegal, Versus Technology and XKO Group.

Other financial news included analyst upgrades for Actuate, Ask Jeeves, Check Point Software, Gtech Holdings, Hutchinson Technologies, InterActiveCorp, Lone Star Technologies, PLX Technology, Qlogic, SafeNet, Silicon Image and Unova; analyst downgrades for AT&T, Cray, E.piphany, Emulex, Lucent Technologies and Tetra Tech; private placement of shares by Datec; share offerings from Ciber and Viisage; private funding obtained for Carrius Technologies, GaleForce Solutions, Mobixell Networks, RaySat and WorldGate Comms; and share buy-back announcements from Logitech, QAD and Verity.

There were positive results/profit warnings from Silicon Image and Xaar; negative results/profit warnings (often veiled) from AT&T, Filtronic, Innovex and Telular; a share split announcement from Gtech Holdings (2:1); a very good IPO from Salesforce.com; a mediocre IPO from Xyratex; a satisfactory IPO by Motive, Bell Canada`s service management software company; an IPO delay from CSMC Technologies; an IPO filing by LG Philips LCD in the US; a planned IPO from Pages Jaunes, the French Telecom directories business; and a cancelled IPO from UK-based IT managed services provider 2escape2 Holdings.

Locally

Control (+16.7%)
CS Holdings (-16%)
Elexir (-33.3%)
Faritec (-28.6%)
Global Technology (-50%)
I-Solutions (-22.2%)
Labat Africa (-15%)
MGX (-20%)
Prism (+22.7%)
Zaptronix (-33.3%)

Internationally

Altera (+24%)
Auspex Systems (-31.8%)
Avanex (+46.2%)
Daisytek International (+33.3%)
Eagle Broadband (+24%)
Enherent (+41.2%)
FiberMark (+204%)
Input/Output (+27.5%)
PalmOne (+62.6%)
RCN (-28.3%)
Telewest Comms (+50%)

In terms of indices, Nasdaq was up 2% and the JSE up 0.4% for the week.

Last week saw the publication of some more rankings. On the local front, Financial Mail published its latest online communications index that saw Comparex (now Business Connexion) dropping from number two to 20, Reunert becoming the top technology company at number eight and Telkom entering for the first time at 22.

BusinessWeek also published its European 50 best-performing companies list with the only technology entries being TIM at 18 and SAP at 40.

* 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.