Get ready for results flood

The EMC acquisition of Legato Systems and a flood of profit warnings ahead of the quarterly results due to start streaming out next week dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

In terms of 'high-jumpers`, Nextel topped the BusinessWeek`s list, jumping from 988 to 244, while WorldCom (MCI) has disappeared from the list.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

At home, the JSE`s annotations on the share listings of a number of technology companies stole the ICT headline space during an extremely quiet week.

* we saw satisfactory year-end results from Connection Group (revenue slightly down but earnings very significantly up); and

* the JSE annotated the listings of Cape Empowerment Trust and Global Technology as the financial statements contain an emphasis of matter, and those of CCI Holdings as the statements contain an adverse audit opinion.

Other local news included:

* the news that Temenos hopes to open a South African office, so it seems unlikely that an MBO of Global Technology`s banking division will transpire;

* the opening of an Australian office by Beget Holdings; and

* the resignation of Terry Kelly, CEO of Westcon Africa.

New local distributorships included Workgroup for Network Associates.

* EMC`s announcement that it is eyeing other acquisitions following the Legato deal;

* Focal Comms emerged from Chapter 11; and

* the SEC order banning ex-Xerox executives from working as accountants.

Additionally, look out for the fate of Redback Networks. It is likely to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it cannot gain enough support for its debt-for-equity deal. Furthermore, look out for the possible acquisition by Taiwan`s Far EasTone Telecomms of KG Telecomms.

Other international news included:

* the appointments of Hank Bonde as CEO of Centerpost and Lorraine Hariton as president and CEO of Apptera;

* the resignations of Rick DeGolia as president and CEO of Apptera, David King as vice-chairman of Proxim, Jerome Swartz as chairman and founder of Symbol Technologies and Jonathan Zakin as chairman of Proxim; and

* job loss announcements from MSC Software.

We saw excellent* figures from Sohu.com; and very good* numbers from Infosys Technologies, Juniper Networks and Yahoo.

Good figures* were recorded by Staffware; and satisfactory* ones by Franklin Electric.

Mediocre* returns came from MTI Technology (but back in the black) and Oce NV; while very poor results* came from Printronix.

Losses* were posted by Alphameric, BestNet Comms, Innovex, Metron Technology, Planit, Plumtree Software, Powerwave Technologies, SafeNet, Sonus Networks and TMSSequoia.

Other financial news included a $5.1 billion bond issue from Deutsche Telekom; shareholders rights plans from CACI; and results/profit warnings (often veiled) from BMC Software, Compuware, FileNet, Firstwave Technologies, Hummingbird, Information Holdings, Insituform Technologies, Logitech, Macro4, Nokia, Phoenix Technologies, Proxim, Quantum, SeeBeyond, Ubizen NV, Vitria and WatchGuard Technologies.

There was also a share split announcement from World Information Technologies; a good IPO debut by Yell on the LSE, the largest UK IPO this year; an IPO filing from SigmaTel, a semiconductor maker; and planned IPO announcements from both InterVideo and VMware.

Locally

AST (+21.4%)
Connection Group (+13.7%)
Cycad (+50%)
DNA (-33.3%)
Elexir (+50%)
Infowave (+20%)
Jasco (+10%)
Sekunjalo (-10%)
Spescom (+16.4%)
Trematon (+20%)

Internationally

Adept Technology (+103.6%)
Irevolution (-81.2%)
Micro Component Technology (+93.5%)
NeoMagic (+63%)
NTELOS (+100%)
OAOT (+53.8%)
On2 Technologies (+109.4%)
PCD (-66.7%)
RCN (+53.8%)
Rural Cellular (+62.4%)
VocalTec Comms (+82.4%)

In terms of indices, Nasdaq was up 4.2% and the JSE up 2% for the week.

It`s that time of the year for the publication of BusinessWeek`s Global 1000 and the top 200 emerging-market companies.

From a technology perspective, Microsoft is at number two and IBM at 11, while Vodafone is at 12 (the top European and UK technology entry) and NTT DoCoMo at 23 (the top Japanese technology entry).

In terms of 'high-jumpers`, Nextel topped the list, jumping from 988 to 244, while WorldCom (MCI) has disappeared from the list.

In terms of the emerging countries list, the top technology entries are China Mobile (Hong Kong) at one and Samsung Electronics at two. In total there are eight entries in the top 25.

* NB

Guidelines for the categorisation of results are as follows. The figures 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 are in excess of 50%.

* Good: Both revenue and net income growth are 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.