Local results flood, DataMirror/Idion saga continue

The rationalisation of the distribution of Linux, and the fate of KPNQwest were the main stories during a very quiet week in the international world of IT and telecommunications.

Prism announced that it is in negotiations that will result in it either being acquired by a major overseas player or by a larger SA group.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

At home the announcements by Prism, the latest in the Idion/DataMirror saga and the flood of local results stole much of the local IT/telecoms headline space.

* we saw excellent full-year numbers from Psitek (revenue and pro forma headline earnings significantly up) and Tracker (revenue and pro forma headline earnings well up and back in the black);

* good full year figures from Synergy (revenue up and back in the black) and Vodacom (revenue and pro forma headline earnings both up);

* mixed full-year figures from Inala (revenue down but pro forma headline earnings up) and Venfin (revenue well up but profit well down);

* satisfactory annual results from OSI (revenue up and back in the black - just);

* full-year losses from Casey (revenue also down) and Edutech (was Contlan) (revenue also well down);

* excellent half-year figures from MB Technologies (revenue and profit both well up although foreign exchange gains accounted for over 50% of the latter`s increase);

* interim results from Dectronic (no revenue but back in the black as a result of the section 311 compromise);

* half-year losses by Stella Vista (revenue also well down) and Vesta Technology Holdings (revenue also well down);

* the formal de-listing of Sempres International Technology Holdings; and

* a profit warning from Prism.

Local acquisitions, mergers, investments etc (none last week).

Local Cautionary Notices (see attachment).

Local Result Summaries (see attachment).

Local Major Event Summary (see attachment).

[Local]

Other local news included:

* the appointments of Olivier Suinat as the new GM for HP Africa and Frank Thompson as CEO of Advtech;

* the announcement that Cell C had already exceeded the 500 000 subscriber mark;

* the closure of the unsuccessful hostile bid for Idion by DataMirror, although the battle continues after DataMirror made the offer unconditional for an indefinite period;

* Mustek`s intention to list some of its shares on the Taiwanese Stock Exchange;

* the launch by Vodacom of its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo;

* the creation of a new empowerment IT company, Kwebo Networking, by the ex-managers of the SA subsidiary of Sitara Networks;

* the statement that Stella Vista is to only focus on international opportunities; and

* the announcement by Prism that it is in negotiations that will result in it either being acquired by a major overseas player or by a larger SA group.

* we saw the ending of talks between Global Crossing and Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore Technologies TeleMedia;

* a top-level shake-up at AOL Time Warner;

* Sage casting some monopolistic aspersions on the proposed Microsoft/Navision deal;

* a restructuring at Larscom;

* the approval of the plan by Deltek to return to being a private company; and

* the announcement that Linux distributors Caldera, Connectiva SA, SuSE Linux AG and TurboLinux are to join forces to create UnitedLinux, a standards-based Linux distribution.

Additionally, look out for possible bids for Global Crossing from China Netcom and Purple Comms; and the fall-out from the bankruptcy of KPNQwest, which could see a break-up of a group valued at about $40 billion only two years ago.

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

[International}

Other international news included:

* the appointments of James Chesney as chairman of TSI TelSys, Robert Lewis as CEO of Nonstop Solutions, Marc Nussbaum as interim CEO at Lantronix, Harry Rozakis as CEO of ASAT Holdings, Tom Ward as CEO of Exabyte, and Lawrence Zimmerman as CFO of Xerox (retired IBM executive hired to correct financial image of Xerox, which is severely dented);

* the retirement announcement by Stuart Lynn, CEO of ICANN; and

* job loss announcements from Acterna, Deutsche Telekom, Larscom and Nortel Networks.

We saw excellent figures from VimpelCom.

Good numbers were recorded by Intec Telecom Systems, Norlight Telecomms, Peerless Systems (back in the black) and SYS Technologies; and satisfactory ones by Ansoft (back in the black).

Mediocre returns came from ARI Network Services (but back in the black - just), Bechtel AG, Cable Design Technologies, Gericom AG, OTE and Synstar (but back in the black); while very poor results came from Eyretel (but back in the black).

Losses came from Acterna, African Lakes, Alterian, Belzberg Technologies, BVR, Caldera, Cell-Loc, DataMirror, Ditech Comms, Eckoh Technologies, Eltek, eOn Comms, Fujitsu, Geoworks, Internet Commerce, Linmor, Matav-Cable Systems Media, Minorplanet, MmO2, netGuru, New Visual, Olicom, Optio Software, Plasmon, RoboGroup, SAMSys Technologies, T/R Systems, The Innovation Group, TiVo, Trintech, TSI TelSys and Vodafone.

Other financial news included a share buy-back announcement from Macrovision; profit warnings from Cognos, DDD Group, Lantronix, Nortel Networks and Palm; and share split announcements from Genuity (reverse), iLive and Scient (reverse).

Additionally, Arch Wireless has completed its financial reorganisation and re-emerged from Chapter 11; Avanex and Lantronix are to re-state their 2001 and 2002 figures; and IPOs are expected this week from Plumtree Software (software for Internet portals), PrintCafe Software (software for printing industry) and Veridian (IT contractor).

Locally

Acuity (+25%)

Aqua Online (-25%)

Cape Empowerment Trust (-30%)

CCI Holdings (+40%)

Dectronic (+40%)

Explorer (-28.6%)

Hicor (-33.3%)

Maxtec (+20%)

OneLogix (+19%)

Pinnacle (-21.4%)

Internationally

AIT (-80.9%)

Auspex Systems (-32.5%)

Frontline Comms (-20%)

Focal Comms (-34.6%)

Genesis Microchip (-34.3%)

i2 Technologies (+22.7%)

Manugistics (-21.3%)

Palm (-33.7%)

SeaChange International (-36.5%)

Syntellect (-30.7%)