Local results dominate quiet week

The events surrounding Guardian IT dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week during a very quiet period.

Guardian IT announced that it would have to re-state some of its figures and add some additional costs to its year-end figures.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

At home, the raft of local results, with those of ERP.com standing out significantly, stole much of the local headline space.

• we saw excellent interims from ERP.com (revenue and earnings both significantly up);
• satisfactory half-year numbers from Net1 Applied Technology (revenue slightly down but earnings up);
• mixed half-year numbers from CS Computer Services (revenue well up but attributable profit well down);
• mediocre interims from OneLogix (revenue up but earnings well down); and
• a half-year loss from Prism (but revenue up nearly 25%).

[Local]

Other local news included:

• The IQ Business Group appointed Byran Johnston as the head of its Australian operation;
• the possible unbundling by Kunene Technology of its 57.3% stake in Grintek;
• the appointment of Gareth Griffiths as CEO of I-Fusion, now part of the Bidvest Group, replacing Ron Sackstein, who is retiring;
• the resignation of Nick van Noordwyk as MEA regional director for Veritas Software; and
• the resignation of De MNA Mokoape, chairman of Elexir, and the appointment of JA Casey as the new interim chairman.

Guardian IT announced that it would have to re-state some of its figures and add some additional costs to its year-end figures.

Also look out for the fate of FiberCom as it seeks to stave off filing for Chapter 11; and the fate of Guardian IT, which may be the target of a take-over bid.

International acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures etc (see attachment).

Other international news included:

• the appointments of Anders Ekman as CEO of Framtidsfabriken AB, Anthony Gould as president and CEO of Image Sensing Systems, Bryan Martin as CEO of 8x8, Michael Simmonds as CEO of IPNet Solutions, Jerome Swartz as CEO of Symbol Technologies, and Anthony Thornley as president and CFO of Qualcomm;
• the resignations of Colin Myers, CEO of Symbian, and Richard Raworth, chairman of Guardian IT;
• the retirement of Tomo Razmilovic, CEO of Symbol Technologies; and
• job loss announcements from Covista Comms, Intershop Comms AG, Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless.

We saw excellent figures from Interactive Systems Worldwide, Nvidia, Overture Services (back in the black), PEC Solutions and Traffix.

Good numbers were recorded by 8x8 (back in the black), Aldata Solutions Oy, Cadapult Graphic Systems (back in the black), Clary, Cognicase (back in the black), Concord EFS, Elite Information Group (back in the black), Image Sensing Systems (back in the black), Innovative Solutions, Intuit, InVision Technologies, Kalido, Key3Mrdia Group (back in the black), Micros-To-Mainframes (back in the black), ProQuest, Sierra Systems Group, SPX, SunGard, Swan SA, Telenor, TietoEnator Oy, Torex, TTI Telecom International, Walker Interactive Systems (back in the black) and XEL.

Satisfactory figures were posted by Cedara Software (back in the black), CTE (back in the black), CTG, Dell, ePlus, ESpeed, Garmin, Giga Information Group, IMSI, Instinet, Matav, ON Technology (back in the black), Perot Systems (back in the black), Register.com and THQ.

Mediocre returns came from ADDvantage, ADIC, Aeroflex, Analog Devices, Analytical Surveys (back in the black), Appiant Technologies 9back in the black), Brocade Comms Systems, Caminus (but back in the black), CompuDyne, CorVu (but back in the black), Deltek, Glenayre (but back in the black), Hauppauge Digital, Heidelberg, HP, Hypercom, Ingram Micro, INSCI, Infogrames, Kadant, Keane, Learning Tree International, Network Appliance, Novo Networks (but back in the black), OnSpan Networking, Paravant, Photronics, Primal Solutions (back in the black), Rimage, Royalblue, Spectrum Signal Processing (but back in the black), Spescom Software, Teleflex, Titan, Tricom, VerticalNet (back in the black) and ViaSat.

Very poor results came from Bell Microproducts, Comtex, Information Resources (but back in the black), Datum, EMS Technologies, Sapiens (but back in the black) and Vodavi (but back in the black).

Losses were posted by Acme Comms, Advanced Lighting Technologies, Advanced Power Technology, Aetrium, Agile software, Allen Telecom, Alphanumeric, AmeriQuest, Applied Materials, ATEC Group, August Technology, Axsys Technologies, BakBone Software, Barrister, Cablevision Systems, CacheFlow, CE Software, CellPoint, Charter Comms, Checkpoint Systems, Choice One Comms, Cintech Solutions, Clarus, ClickAction, Cognigen Networks, Comdisco, Comtrex, Cox Comms, Cray, Crystal Systems Solutions, Cyber Digital, CyberOptics, Cysive, Daktronics, Datalink, Datatrak International, deltathree, DG Systems, Digimarc, DSET, DTCI, DTS, ECI Telecom, Edgewater Technology, eGain Comms, Eiger Technology, En Pointe Technologies, Entravision Comms, Equinix, eXcelon, Ezenia!, Fast Search & Transfer ASA, Flag Telecom, Freestar Technologies, Genus, GTC Telecomm, iBasis, IDC, IEC Electronics, IIJ, Imaging Technologies, Intelligroup, InterDigital Comms, Interliant, Interlink Electronics, InterX, IXTC, Jupiter Media Metrix, KPNQwest, Leap Wireless International, Loral, LTX, Lumenon Innovative Lightwave Technology, Macro 4, Magic Software Enterprises, McLeodUSA, MDU Comms international, MetaSolv, MIND CTI, Momentum Business Applications, Nanometrics, Nashua, nCipher, Neon Systems, Netgateway, NetStore plc., Netzee, Notify Technology, Numerex, NUR Macroprinters, Nuvo Network Management, OAO Technology Solutions, Pac-West Telecomm, Pomeroy Computer Resources, PPT Vision, RadView Software, Raindance Comms, S1, SatCon Technology, ScanSoft, SED International Holdings, Semotus, SilverStream Software, Sipex, SMTEK International, Socket Comms, Stamps.com, Sycamore Networks, Sykes Enterprises, Tanning Technologies, Tecnomatix, Telaxis Comms, Telecom Italia SpA, Telus, Timeline, Tiscali, Trikon Technologies, Tucows, US Wireless Data, Viacom, Viant, Viewpoint, ViryaNet, Visionics, Visual Data, Vitrix, Wireless facilities, XeTel, XO Comms, Zomax and Zoom Telephonics.

Other financial news included share buy-back announcements from Micrel, Printronix and Swisscom AG; profit warnings from Aldata Solutions Oy, Charter Comms, IQE, Kewill Systems, Network Appliance, Nortel Networks, S1, Symbol Technologies, Telecom Italia, Telenor and Terence Chapman Group.

There were also share split announcements from CellStar (reverse) and StartCall.com (reverse); an IPO filing from PrintCafe; and very good IPOs from PayPal (payment clearing house) and Synaptics (wireless comms). Additionally, Carrier1, Globalstar and NQL have been forced to file for insolvency.

Locally

Acuity (-37.5%)
Crux (-25%)
Dectronic (+33.3%)
Dynamic Cables (-16.7%)
Elexir (-25%)
Integrear (-18%)
KTL (+15.8%)
Prism (-42.9%)
Spescom (-19%)
Synergy (+20%)

Internationally

Arch Wireless (-35.3%)
Elite Info Group (-32.1%)
Flag Telecom (-44.6%)
Gilat Satellite Networks (+31.9%)
Guardian IT (-39.4%)
PSC (-32.7%)
Symbol Technologies (-37.3%)
Telewest (-40%)
Visual Data (+50%)
Walker Interactive Systems (+43.9%)

EuroBusiness recently published its Europe 2001 annual company scorecard. In terms of revenues, the highest placed technology companies were Siemens at number eight, Deutsche Telekom at 34 and British Telecom at 45. However, by market capitalisation, Vodafone was at number three, Nokia at number seven, Deutsche Telekom at 10 and British Telecom at 12.

I am in the UK this week, so the next issue of Booth`s Bites will be published on 4 March and will cover the events of both weeks.