Flood of figures this week

Last week was exceptionally quiet on the international front, ahead of the flood of quarterly results expected to start to be released this week. Locally, the results from Altron and the Connection Group seemed to dominate the local ICT media space during a similarly quiet period.

* The move of the listing of Infowave to the main board of the JSE.
* The acquisition of Japan`s PoweredCom, Japan`s fourth largest telecommunications operator, by KDDI, Japan`s second largest telecommunications player for, $1.1 billion.

* Very good year-end numbers from Connection Group with both revenue and profit well up.
* Good interim figures from Altron with both revenue and income up.
* The listing of Elexir on the JSE is suspended and subsidiary Elexir Computer Services has been placed in liquidation by one of its creditors.
* The appointment of Corex as the distributor in SA for Vantec, a leading thermal solutions manufacturer.
* The appointment of Annex Distribution as a 3Com distribution partner.

* A proposed reverse share split by Econet Wireless Holdings.
* The appointment of Tarsus Technologies as the Southern African distributor for Wyse thin-client devices.

The listing of Elexir on the JSE is suspended and subsidiary Elexir Computer Services has been placed in liquidation by one of its creditors.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* The announcement of a joint venture between Nokia and China`s Putian.
* Microsoft settles its antitrust dispute with RealNetworks for $761 million.
* The name change of Unitech Systems to Infogix.
* The appointments of Glen Blackmon as president and COO of Internet America; Sam Cece as CEO of StrongMail Systems; Michael Collette as CEO of Narad Networks; Joel Hoffner as CEO and president of Paragon Technologies; Yanming Liu as CEO and president of Salira Systems; and Walter Scott as president and CEO of Acronis.
* Positive results announcements from Arris, Carphone Warehouse, Komag, Lattice Semiconductor, NCR and SCM Microsystems.
* Negative result warnings from Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Alliance Imaging, Bell Microproducts, Compuware, FLIR Systems, Innovex, International Rectifier, LightPath Technologies, MTI Technology, Phoenix Technologies, SCM Microsystems, SigmaTel, Skyworks Solutions, Tetra Tech, Unisys and Xilinx.
* A planned IPO in Paris from Eutelsat Communications.
* A good IPO on the LSE by Investcom Holding, an international mobile telecommunications group.
* A disappointing IPO in Belgium by Telenet Group Holding NV, a telecommunications provider.
* A Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing by Epixtar, an aggregator of contact centre capacity and robust telephone systems infrastructure.

* A possible bid for Marconi by Ericsson.
* The possible investment in AOL by Google and Comcast.
* A telecommunications purchase by BSkyB.

* According to Forrester, 2007 will show a significant drop in IT spending in the US, before rebounding in 2009 to near double-digits.
* According to IDC, the global mobile worker population will increase by more than 200 million users between 2004 and 2009.

* JSE All share index: Down 2.9%
* Nasdaq: Down 1.1%

Top SA share movements:

Beget Holdings (-11.1%), CompuClearing (-16.7%), Dynamic Cables (+25%), Infoware (+15.7%), I-Solutions (+35%), Idion (-14.3%), Labat Africa (+11.1%), Sekunjalo (-15.4%), Stella Vista (+20%), Xantium (-12.5%) and Zaptronix (-41.7%).

Top international share movements:

Bell Microproducts (-30.3%), Corpora Plc (+31.6%), DA Consulting Group (-75%), Envesta Telecom Plc (-64.3%), FiberMark (+100%), Formscan Plc (+32%), Knowledge Technology Solutions (-44.1%), Maisha Plc (-24.8%), RealNetworks (+31.8%) and Sarantel Group Plc (-41.7%)

Every year, Software Magazine publishes its "Software 500" listing that is a rating by software/services revenue, but includes privately owned entities as well as listed companies. The highest ranked private companies in this list are SAIC at number 14, SAS at 39 and Telcordia Technologies at 64.