MS, Sun make peace

Microsoft`s $1.6 billion settlement with Sun Microsystems and IBM`s acquisition of Candle dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

At home, Dimension Data`s black economic empowerment (BEE) initiative involving Andile Ngcaba, and Datatec`s sell-off of its Logicalis interests in Australia and New Zealand stole much of the local ICT headline space.

* We saw good year-end figures from Cape Empowerment Trust (no revenue figures but net income well up);

* Mediocre full-year numbers from Dynamic Cables (revenue well down but back in the black) and Square One (revenue significantly down but profit up);

* Full-year losses from Beget Holdings (revenue also down) and Global Technology (revenue also significantly down);

* Half-year losses from Cycad (no revenue figures), EC-Hold (revenue also down nearly 80%) and MGX (revenue also well down);

* A positive trading update from Paracon Holdings; and

* The de-listing of Aqua Online`s shares.

Other local news included:

* The disposal by Datatec`s Logicalis subsidiary of its interests in Australia and New Zealand;

* A change of control at Casey;

* The appointment of Grant O`Connor as territory manager for FileNet following the establishment of a local office;

* Dimension Data`s BEE initiative sees a consortium headed by Andile Ngcaba acquiring 25% of Dimension Data`s South African operation;

* J&J Group`s 25.2% investment in Striata;

* The launch of Solutions for Business Intelligence, a subsidiary of ERP.com;

* CCN`s proposed de-listing from the JSE; and

* The signing of a five-year management agreement between Vodacom Group and Econet Wireless Nigeria.

New local distributorships included that of BenQ digital lifestyle products by Esquire Technologies, KXEN software by Bytes Business Solutions and MADSolutions` Attachment Executive and Attachment Executive Server Side products by Channel Data.

Furthermore, on the local front, look out for the possible de-listing of Dynamic Cables, whose shares have been suspended on the JSE for more than two years; and the targets for possible acquisition by Cape Empowerment Trust.

* Hutchison Whampoa will split off many of its international mobile phone businesses and its fixed-line and next-generation telecoms businesses into a new company, Hutchison Telecomms International, that will be floated on Hong Kong`s Stock Exchange;

* TCL will also spin-off its mobile operation through an IPO in Hong Kong;

* The Norwegian government`s reduction (9.4%) of its shareholding in Telenor;

* The Virgin Group`s new mobile venture in Canada;

* Microsoft`s $1.6 billion settlement of its claims with Sun Microsystems; and

* The name change of Legend Group to Lenova Group.

Additionally, look out for the buy-out by Kabel Deutschland GmbH of three of its rival cable operators.

In the first shuffle of its ranks since November 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average replaced three of its 30 components, including AT&T and Eastman Kodak. At the same time Verizon Comms has now been included.

Other international news included:

* The appointments of Sanjiv Ahuja as CEO of Orange, Michael Bradley as CEO of Teradyne, Joe Forehand as CEO of Accenture (stays on as chairman), John Hwang as chairman of TechnoConcepts, William LaPerch as president and CEO of AboveNet, Kate Mitchell as CEO of CopperEye, David Olsson as president and CEO of AnchorPoint, Gervais Pellissier as CEO of Bull, Didier Pineau-Valencienne as chairman of Bull, Jonathan Schwartz as president and COO of Sun Microsystems and Tom von Weymarn as chairman of TeliaSonera;

* The resignations of George Chamillard as CEO of Teradyne (stays on as chairman), Tapio Hintikka as chairman of TeliaSonera AB and Solomon Trujillo as CEO of Orange;

* The death of Pierre Bonelli, chairman and CEO of Bull; and

* Job loss announcements from Acxiom, Gateway, Siemens and Sun Microsystems.

We saw excellent* figures from Apogee (back in the black), Communicate.com (back in the black), MDM, LG Philips LCD and Ultradata Systems (back in the black); and very good* numbers from ATI Technologies (back in the black), Merrimac (back in the black) and Scan-Optics.

Good figures* were recorded by Ebix, SAP Systems Integration AG and Xfone; and satisfactory* ones by Accenture, Baltimore Technologies (back in the black), GenTek, IDI Global (back in the black), Matav (but back in the black), NeoPost, Robocom Systems International and Shaw Comms (back in the black).

Mediocre* returns came from Bertelsmann, CODASciSys, Gensym, Lason, Maersk Data A/S and MAI Systems (back in the black); while very poor results* came from Bull (but back in the black) and Manugistics (but back in the black).

Losses* were posted by Aegis Comms Group, AESP, AirIQ, Ampex, ARC Wireless Solutions, ASA International, Astea Technologies, BATM Advanced Comms, Butler International, Chelford, Cimetrix, Cognitronics, Comdial, CTI Group, Data Systems & Software, Davel Comms, enherent, Fibernet, Innotrac, Integrated Business Systems & Services, Intelli-Check, JMAR Technologies, Koor Industries, New Mexico Software, Northstar Electronics, Patient Infosystems, Paxson Comms, Primal, Pro Tech Comms, RCN, Refac, SkyTerra Comms, SmartVideo Technologies, SpatiaLight, Speedus, Suntron, TechKnowledge, TVC Telecom, Unity Wireless, VendTek, VIA NET.WORKS and Worldspan.

Dimension Data`s BEE initiative sees a consortium headed by Andile Ngcaba acquiring 25% of the company`s South African operation.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

Other financial news included analyst upgrades for Agile Software, Comverse Technology, Magma Design Automation, Western Digital and Wireless Age Comms; analyst downgrades for Asyst Technologies, F5 Networks, FiberMark and Fiserv; private placement of shares by DDi and Omtool; share offerings from Omtool and PalmSource; a positive results/profit warning from Silicon Image; and negative results/profit warnings (often veiled) from Callidus Software, ClickSoftware, Hutchison Technology, Kana Software, Net.com, Nintendo, Qlogic, Somera Comms, Sun Microsystems, Sybase and Verisity.

Share split announcements from Omtool (2:1) and Snap2 (reverse 10:1); and planned IPOs on London`s AIM by Newport Networks and in New York by Worldspan Technologies. Additionally, FiberMark and US Wireless Data have filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition; and RCN anticipates it might need to also file for Chapter 11.

Locally

Casey (+100%)
CCN (+11.1%)
CompuClearing (-12.9%)
Dimension Data (+10.6%)
Datacentrix (+11.1%)
Idion (-10.6%)
Intervid (-9.8%)
Labat Africa (-9.7%)
Telkom (+12.2%)
Vesta (-50%)

Internationally

Arch Wireless (+34.8%)
Bitstream (+40.3%)
Daisytek (-57.1%)
Geoworks (+25%)
NCD (-50%)
PalmOne (+26.3%)
PC Mall (+29%)
Robocom Systems International (+27.3%)
Scipher (+25%)
SEMX (-26.5%)

In terms of indices, Nasdaq was up 5% and the JSE up 2.2% for the week.

As this weekend is Easter, the next issue of Booth`s Bites will appear on Monday, 19 April.

* 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 are in excess of 50%.
* Very good: Both revenue and net income growth are in excess of 25%
* Good: Both revenue and net income growth are 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.