Google makes Internet IPO history

The $5 billion acquisition of Intelsat by a consortium of private equity partners and the Google initial public offering (IPO) dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

At home, the handful of local results and the listing of Xantium stole much of the local ICT headline space.

* We saw good annual numbers from FrontRange (revenue slightly down but profit very significantly up and reported in US dollars for the first time);

* Mediocre full-year numbers from Prism (revenue down and earnings marginally up);

* A full-year loss from Zaptronix (although revenue well up);

* An interim loss from Idion (revenue also slightly down);

* Xantium Technology Holdings listed successfully on the AltX, the first ICT company to be listed since the inception of AltX a few months ago;

* Negative trading updates from IST and Mustek; and

* The suspension of Intervid`s shares.

Other local news included:

* DataPro listed through a reverse take-over by Casey;

* A "take it or leave it" offer by BTG for the shares of CS Holdings;

* FrontRange indicated it would like to list on Nasdaq;

* CSC SA initiated a management programme that it hopes will boost skills within the IT sector; and

* M-Web acquired Tiscali`s SA operations.

New local distributorships included that of Exstream Software by Blue Turtle Technologies and that of the Konica Minolta brand by Bidvest`s Minolta SA.

* We saw the $5 billion acquisition of Intelsat by a consortium of private equity companies;

* The 4.96% investment in MCI by Leucadia National, an investment firm, in a move that may trigger a bid for control of the former by the latter;

* The merger of Minolta and Konica; and

* The Agfa-Gevaert spin-off of its consumer imaging unit.

The take-over of Intelsat by a consortium of two US-based and two UK-based private equity companies is the fourth, the largest by value and maybe the last consolidation at least for now in the global satellite communications space.

The Google IPO was one of the most closely watched deals for years and with the proceeds coming in at about $1.7 billion, it represents the largest-ever Internet IPO.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

All four acquisitions have involved private equity companies and up to now mainly US-based ones. It started last year with Inmarsat being snapped up and then New Skies Satellites and PanAmSat followed earlier this year.

Intelsat is also one of this year`s CIO Magazine Agile 100 companies, an honour awarded to companies that are able to marry IT agility with enterprise agility in order to move quickly, adapt intelligently and create advantage in a rapidly changing world.

An international strategic partnership was announced between NEC Solutions America and Procom.

Other international news included:

* The appointments of Raoul Fontanez as group CEO of Digicel, John Herring as president and CEO of iMove, Chen Min-liang as chairman of Promos Technologies, Ranganath Nayak as CEO of Cytel Software and Thomas Sweeny as chairman and CEO of Incentra;

* Hu Hung-chiu resigned as chairman of Promos Technologies;

* Gary Burrell retired as co-chairman of Garmin and Thomas Chapman as chairman of Equifax; and

* A job loss announcement from Nortel Networks.

Excellent* figures from BenQ, Blue Coat Systems (back in the black), CACI, ChipMOS, Communicate.com, DND Technologies (back in the black), Information Analysis (back in the black), New Mexico Software (back in the black), New Skies Satellites NV, Salesforce.com, Sonus Networks (back in the black), SYS Technologies and YP.

Very good* numbers from DataLogic International (back in the black), Ebix, Hutchison Global Comms, Network Appliance and Niku (back in the black).

Good figures* were recorded by Autodesk, Baldwin Technology (back in the black), Brocade Comms, C-COR (back in the black), Datacraft Asia, Dataram, Ezenia!, Global Axcess, Hutchison Whampoa, Merrimac (back in the black), Photronics and Wind River Systems (back in the black).

Satisfactory* figures were posted by American Software, Avatar Systems (back in the black), China Mobile (Hong Kong), Cimetrix (back in the black), Datec Group, Logility, Novell (back in the black), QAD, SkyTerra Comms (back in the black) and Tri-Vision (back in the black).

Mediocre* returns came from Analytical Surveys (but back in the black), CyberGuard, Daktronics, DataWave, ePlus, Financial Objects (but back in the black), GlobalSCAPE, Key Components, NEON Systems, Synopsys, Systems Union and Zanett; while very poor results* came from Ansoft (but back in the black), MOSAID (but back in the black), Sentry Technology, Serena Software and Top Image Systems (but back in the black).

Losses* were reported by ACE*COMM, ACL Semiconductors, ACT Teleconferencing, AdStar, AESP, Agfa-Gevaert, Agile Software, Applied Materials, Bakbone Software, Bogen Comms, Champion Comms Services, Chordiant Software, Ciena, Cirmaker Technology, CNT, Convera, CTI Group, Digital Lightwave, Digital Power, Digital Recorders, eLinear, eMagin, enherent, Genesys Conferencing, Genius Products, GlobeTel Comms, i2Telecom International, IceWEB, iLine Comms, Integral Comms, Intelli-Check, interWAVE, Intuit, iPCS, IQE, JMAR Technologies, McData, Multiband, NCT Group, Nestor, nStor Technologies, Patient Infosystems, Pro Tech Comms, Quovadx, RCN, Rediff.com, Scan-Optics, Seagull Software, SmartServ Online, Speedus, Storage Computer, Stronghold Technologies, Superconductive Components, Sycamore Networks, Syscan Imaging, Teknowledge, Telenetics, TelePlus, Teltronics, Tricom, TTI Telecom, ValueVision Media, ViewCast, Visual Data, VirtGame, VirTra Systems, VoIP and Xplore Technologies.

Other financial news included analyst upgrades for Brooks Automation, CACI, Chordiant Software, Ciena, ID Systems, M-Systems Flash, Pixelworks, Plexus, Siebel Systems and Wind River Systems; analyst downgrades for Artesyn Technologies, Blue Coat Systems, Flextronics and NeoMagic; private funding obtained for Affinnova, Brickstream, Citigal, ClearCube Technology, CXO Systems, Echopass, FaceTime Comms, iMove, Newmerix and PolyServe; a share buy-back announcement from Business Objects; a positive results/profit warning from Photon Dynamics; and negative results/profit warnings (often veiled) from Altran Technologies SA, Bellsouth, Datacraft Asia, Digital Recorders, SMSC, Synopsys and Unaxis.

There was a delayed IPO from WebSideStory; postponed IPO filings from Linows in New York and on London`s ALT from Physiomics; and a satisfactory IPO from Google. Additionally, Leap Wireless International has emerged from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Google IPO was one of the most closely watched deals for years and with the proceeds coming in at about $1.7 billion, it represents the largest-ever Internet IPO, despite the IPO price being cut significantly and is certainly one of the three largest US IPOs this year.

Locally

Bryant (-50%)Casey (+5 800%)
CS Holdings (-20%)
Elexir (-20%)
FrontRange (+24.3%)
Labat Africa (-23.5%)
MGX (-40%)
Prism (+24%)
Spescom (-7.5%)
Synergy (-9.1%)

Internationally

Embarcadero Technologies (+32.8%)
Feedback (-34.5%)
Geoworks (+33.3%)
Glow Comms (-68.7%)
i2 Technologies (+36.5%)
Metron Technology NV (+103.6%)
NCD (-41.2%)
Pixelworks (+43.5%)
Read-Rite (+100%)
Sunbeach Comms (-38.7%)

In terms of indices, the Nasdaq was up 4.6% and the JSE up 3.5% for the week.

As mentioned above, CIO magazine has published this year`s Agile 100. Technology companies that are honoured in this way include Acxiom, Dell, Getty Images, GSI Commerce, HP, Intelsat, L3 Comms, palmOne, SBC Comms, SecureWorks and Verizon Wireless.

* 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.