Mixed bag of results

It was a quiet week on the international scene. However, from the quarterly results announced last week, Software AG and Trend Micro posted excellent/good numbers, while disappointing numbers emerged from Borland, Cisco, McAfee and Telstra.

On the local front, the key news included the proposed acquisition of Prism, while Telkom and Dimension Data denied they are in talks.

* The sale by Transnet on the open market of its 5% stake in MTN, which could raise more than R5 billion.
* Telkom SA and Dimension Data denied they are in talks. Telkom is looking to buy an IT services company and has already had two failed attempts to buy Business Connexion.

* A mixed set of interim numbers from Simeka BSG with revenues up over 100% but profit only slightly up on last year`s equivalent period.
* An interim loss by Elexir and a proposed reverse takeover that would see the company de-listed from the main board of the JSE and cease to become a technology company.
* A positive trading update from Digicore.
* A mixed trading update from Business Connexion.
* UK-based telecommunications company TalkTalk plans to establish two call centres in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
* The proposed take-over of Prism by Net 1 UEPS Technologies (ex-Aplitec) for R604 million.
* Sekunjalo acquired FIOS, a financial performance management systems provider.
* The appointments of Clive Fynn as GM of Cisco`s SA subsidiary and Philemon Mjwara as director-general of the Department of Science and Technology.

I believe 2006 will be a watershed year for listed technology stocks on the JSE, with maybe as many as 10 de-listings.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Millicom International Cellular SA completed the buyouts of its minority partners in MIC Tanzania and Millicom Sierra Leone.
* Celtel raised its shareholding in Sudan`s MobilTel from 39% to 100% in a deal valued at $1.33 billion.
* Malawi`s high court temporary blocked the sale of Malawi Telecommunications to a consortium that includes Deutsche Telekom.
* Globecom, Nigeria`s second national operator, expressed interest in the purchase of a shareholding in Nitel.
* Leaderboard was appointed as the African distributor for Xcelsius, a data visualisation solution.

* Borland acquired Segue Software, a provider of testing tools.
* Nuance Communications bought-out Dictaphone.
* Business Objects purchased Firstlogic.
* Nortel settled several shareholder lawsuits with a $2.47 billion payout.
* HP acquired OuterBay, a provider of archiving software for enterprise applications and databases.
* Perfect Commerce purchased Commerce One.
* Job loss announcements from GrafTech International and Oracle.
* A satisfactory IPO in London by Comstar UTS, a Russian telecommunications company.
* A satisfactory IPO in New York by Ntelos Holdings, a telecommunications company.

* The acquisition of Portugal Telecom by Portuguese conglomerate Sonae SGPS in a deal worth over EUR10 billion.
* The buyer for UK`s 2e2 Group, an IT services provider.
* The outcome of the talks between Telekom Malaysia`s TM International unit and India`s Spice Telecom.
* Oracle`s acquisitions in the open source space.

* According to a new NanoMarkets Report, the nano technology-enabled memory market will reach $7 billion in 2010 from $1.4 billion in 2008.
* IT spending worldwide will reach $1.3 trillion by 2009, with the communications and media, government, healthcare and utility markets showing the largest growth, says IDC.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.6%
* Nasdaq: Down 0.1%
* Top SA share movements: Beget Holdings (+16.7%), Cape Empowerment Trust (-23.1%), Faritec (+17.2%), I-Solutions (+13.6%), ISA (-20%), Telkom SA (+11.4%), Trematon (-9.1%), Vesta (+33.3%) and Zaptronix (-9.1%).
* Top international share movements: Advanced Smart Card Technologies (+64.3%), Blue Coat Systems (-29.1%), Boston Communications Group (+27.3%), Com21 (+66.7%), Evans & Sutherland (+31%), Epicus Communications (-40%), Interland (+27.7%), Messaging International (+85.6%), Riverstone Networks (+103.8%) and Scan-Optics (+40%).

I believe 2006 will be a watershed year for listed technology stocks on the JSE, with maybe as many as 10 de-listings. This scenario has already started to manifest itself with last week`s announcements from Elexir and Prism.