More telecom tie-ups on the cards for Europe

Rumours of European telecoms tie-ups, the take-over of Verio by NT&T and yet another acquisition by Cisco dominated the international world of information technology and telecommunications last week; while at home the solid interims from Dimension Data, the buy-into Zaptronix by Hitachi and the sell-off of Specialised Services by Spicer stole the local headlines.

The latest acquisition by Fintech subsidiary, NDS, of Spicer Specialised Services (SSS), brings yet more IT resources into the group, which must embark on a re-organisation if it is to effect many of the synergies which should exist between such entities as USKO, NDS, SSS and even the other bits of its IT and comms group.

The latest acquisition by Fintech subsidiary, NDS, of Spicer Specialised Services, brings yet more IT resources into the group.

Paul Booth, Columnist, ITWeb

We saw satisfactory full-year numbers from Altech (revenue static and income up just over 15%); disappointing full-year figures from Altron and Power Technologies (revenue slightly down but income well down); very good half-year results form Dimension Data; good interim results from Stella Vista (income well up); a profit warning from Brainware; and the announcement that UAM will transfer to the Media sector of the JSE as from next Monday. Additionally, today sees the reverse listing of Aqua Online into the Absec cash shell, and its trading in the Venture Capital sector of the JSE.

[Local]

[Cautionary]

[Listing]

[Result]

Other local news included the announcement of the resignations of P den Boer and N J du Plessis from their directorships at Brainware.

We saw the confirmed name change of Aspec Technology to Ingenuus, the announcement that Toshiba and SanDisk would form a new company, FlashVision, to produce advanced flash memory; and the news that Telefonica`s Internet arm, Terra Networks, was in discussions with Lycos to create what would be the one of the world`s largest Internet groups and one spanning both the English-speaking and Hispanic markets.

[International]

Other international news included the appointments of Paul Allaire as CEO of Xerox, James Kinsella as Chairman of World Online, Francis Scricco as CEO of Arrow Electronics and Lawrence Stanley as President and CEO of Banyan; and the resignations of Bruce Gray, President of Xicor, Rick Thoman as CEO of Xerox, E Van Cullens, President and COO of Harris Corp.

On the results front, we saw excellent figures from Applied Materials, Cisco Systems, Nam Tai Electronics, NUR Macroprinters, Qlogic and Sage Group Plc.

Losses however came from Active Voice, Alphanet Solutions, Alpnet, Applied graphics, Applied Imaging, ASA International, Baltimore Technologies, Bitwise, BrightStar IT Group, Cedara Software, Choice One Comms, CII Technologies, Conductus, Convergent Comms, Corillian, Cray, Dobson Comms, Data Return, DG Systems, Elcom International, Faro Technologies, FDN, GCI, Globalstar Telecomms, GST Telecomms, Illinois Superconductor, Infowave Software, Intellicorp, LightPath Technologies, Master Graphics, Merrimac, Microvision, MPSI, Network Plus, On2.com, Orbital Sciences, Primark, Primus Comms, PSINet (but better than expected), QueryObject Systems, Ramtron, RiverDeep Group, Salem Comms, SBA Comms, Scan-Optics, ScanSoft, Sonic Solutions, Startec Global Comms, Tangram Enterprise Solutions, Teligent, Terra Networks, Treev, TSI TelSys, US LEC, VoiceStream Wireless, World Access, WorldQuest Networks and Xybernaut.

Good numbers were recorded by Dell, France Telecom, GeoConcept, IXYS (back in the black), Kent Electronics, Lernout & Haupsie, NetCom AB, Ricoh and Serena Software; and satisfactory ones by CSC, Elbit, GenTek, Hadco, I/NET, Nashua, NEC and Sharp Corp (back in the black).

Mediocre returns came from Activision, Anicom, Computer Network Technology, Global Imaging, Hummingbird and OfficeMax; whilst very poor results came from Versant.

Other financial news included profit warnings from Navison NV and Xicor; share split announcements from Pegasus Comms and TriQuint Semiconductor; a postponed IPO from DigitalWork (Web services); and a successful IPO from Sequoia Software (Internet Infrastructure). Additionally, liquidity concerns were expressed by GST Telecomms.

Locally

Brainware (-22.2%)

Bynx (+118.8%)

CCH (+24%)

Micrologix (+33.3%)

NetActive (-33.3%)

PentaCom (+50%)

Sethold (-31%)

Softline (+32.6%)

ValueCom (+38.5%)

Y2KTec (-33.3%)

Y3K (-33.3%)

Zaptronix (+48.1%)

Internationally

Actuate (-29.5%)

Adaptive Broadband (-25.6%)

CacheFlow (-29.9%)

CTC Comms Group (-25.4%)

Digex (-25%)

Financial Objects (-36.5%)

NetObjects (-26.3%)

LTX (-25.9%)

Mentor (+42.9%)

Network Plus (-33.8%)

Salem Comms (+37.5%)

Symix (+28.2%)

Finally, this week sees the announcement of year-end results from Datatec and Softline, and the build-up to Computer Faire in Johannesburg, which opens its doors next week.