Faire comment

The debate on the possible Alcatel/Lucent merger and the talk of a possible business alliance between IBM and SAP dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

[VIDEO]At home, the focus of the week was on Datatec, with possible insider trading allegations being highlighted, the subsequent payment of R1 million to the Financial Services Board by two directors without admission of guilt; the publication of excellent year-end results; and speculation re the listings/sell-offs of its UK units Logical and Mason.

• we saw excellent full-year results from Datatec (revenue and earnings both well up);
• satisfactory year-end figures from Labat Africa (but margins heavily squeezed);
• excellent interim numbers from Stella Vista (revenue and earnings in excess of full-year figures);
• a half-year loss from Elexir Technology Holdings (revenue also down); and
• profit warnings from OAI and Sempres.

[Local]

Other local news included:

• the launch of Value Added Solution Technology, an ACCPAC reseller, whose owners and staff include several directors and employees of the now defunct (and being liquidated) Accronym organisation, which was also an ACCPAC reseller;
• the resignation of David Kitchen, group MD of SetPoint Technology Holdings;
• the rebranding of MGX`s software development business as Software Futures. The possibility of a management buyout of Software Futures has been categorically denied by MGX;
• the restructuring of the Johnnic group; and
• the appointment of Terry Kier as MD of the Pastel Group.

Additionally, it seems that Comdex SA is no more, with confirmation that the booking with Gallagher Estate had been cancelled; and it has become apparent that Igaming is looking for a London listing, once a number of proposed mergers and joint ventures have been completed.

• we saw the take-over of SDRC and the remainder of Unigraphics by EDS, to create a fifth line of business for it focusing on product lifecycle management; and
• the name change of RSI Systems to Viseon.

Additionally, watch out for the sale of Bull`s European IT arm (excluding its French operations) to French software and services entity Groupe Steria SA, for about $264 million; a possible e-business alliance between IBM and SAP; and the possible buyout of by Sweden`s Telia AB of SBC`s 41.6% stake in TeleDanmark.

[International]

Other international news included:

• the appointments of Martijn Janmatt as CEO of Cyco Software, Stephen Polley as CEO of WorldQuest Networks and Philip Welt as president and CEO of N2H2;
• the resignations of Bruce Albertson, president and CEO of Iomega, Maximilian Ardelt, CEO of Viag Interkom, Chris Nguyen, president and CEO of Caliber Learning Network, Henri Poole, co-founder and CEO of Linux vendor MandrakeSoft SA, and Vivek Ragavan, CEO of Redback Networks; and
• job loss announcements from Allied Riser Comms, Ezenia!, Giga-tronics, Glenayre Technologies, Inet Technologies, Novell, Pixelpark, Scient, Terabeam, Teradyne and Volera.

We saw excellent figures from Nvidia.

Good numbers were recorded by C & D Technologies, City Telecom (back in the black), Docucorp, Eltek, Global Web and Softbank; and satisfactory ones by Internet Commerce & Comms, Japan Telecom, SemTech and Ultimate Electronics.

Mediocre returns came from BTG, Cable Design Technologies, Camarco, Gadzooks, Imagination Technologies Group, Synopsys and XETA Technologies; while very poor results came from Ditech Comms and SeaChange International (but back in the black).

Losses were posted by Actinic, ADC Telecomms, Agile Software, AmeriQuest Technologies, Asiacontent.com, CaminoSoft, chinadotcom, Computer Associates, Computer Network Technology, Covad Comms, Crossroads Systems, Crosswave Comms, Descartes Systems Group, Deutsche Telekom, Digital Power, eBT International, ECI Telecom, EpicEdge, Forecross, Formula Systems, General DataComm Industries, Global TeleSystems, Imark, IntelliReady, Internet Initiative Japan, Intuit, JD Edwards, Laser Technology, MAI Systems, MBSL Group, MPSI, MTI Technology, Muse Technologies, NCT Group, NeoMagic, netGuru, NetSilicon, Network-1 Security Solutions, Novell, Oryx Technology, OTI, Robotic Vision Systems, SAVVIS Comms, SBE, Sorrento Networks, Startec Global Comms, T-Online, T/R Systems, Take-Two Interactive, Thinkpath, Top Image Systems, TotalAxcess, VA Linux, Video Network Comms, Visual Data, Westell Technologies and Worldwide Wireless Networks.

[The faire was] very disappointing, with most of the big international and local names conspicuous by their absence.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

Other financial news included profit warnings from ASML, Chartered Semiconductor, Ditech Comms, Glenayre Technologies, Infineon, Parity Group, Philips Electronics NV, Technitrol and TriQuint Semiconductor.

There was also a share split announcement from Daktronics, and a withdrawn IPO from Quantum Bridge Comms. Additionally, Teligent has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; eBT International is expected to go into liquidation following a shareholders vote; and Tiscali, the Italian ISP, has filed for a listing on the Paris Stock Exchange.

Locally

Cyberhost (+100%)
E-Data (-60%)
Explorer (+50%)
Metropolis (-33.3%)
Paradigm (-66.7%)
Sempres (-80.8%)
Sethold (-33.3%)
Stella Vista (-28.6%)
Y3K (+50%)

Internationally

Broadbase Software (+65.4%)
Copper Mountain Networks (+44.5%)
Frontline Comms (+42.9%)
Inktomi (+40.5%)
Intraware (+49.7%)
Lightning Rod Software (-48.6%)
Micros To Mainframes (+41.9%)
OnSpan Networking (-40%)
Prodigy (+83.3%)
Unigraphics (+46%)

Computer Faire is over for another year, I`m glad to say. It`s been very disappointing, with most of the big international and local names conspicuous by their absence.

For a show billed as a business-to-business event, it was strangely focused towards on-the-show trading. I don`t believe you should mix two such diverse activities, and I would question whether there is a place any more for these generic exhibitions, since marketing spend can be better channelled and be more effective when utilised in other initiatives.