Oracle revises PeopleSoft bid

Oracle`s revised bid for PeopleSoft and HP`s two proposed acquisitions dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

At home, the various results warnings and the Competitions Tribunal ruling against DHS stole much of the local ICT headline space.

* We saw a half-year loss from Zaptronix (but revenue up 21%);
* Positive earnings/profit warnings from FrontRange, Intervid and Venfin; and
* Negative profit warnings from Jasco and Mustek.

Other local news included:

* The appointments of Vito Bonafede as Sun Microsystems` regional director for sub-Saharan Africa, David O`Neill as CEO of Labat Africa and Brian van Rooyen as chairman of Labat Africa;
* The setting-up of a call centre in Cape Town by the UK-based Budget Group of Companies, trading as Fusion Outsourcing Services;
* The ruling from the Competitions Tribunal that Digital Healthcare Solutions (DHS) failed to meet the conditions laid down for its merger with Persetel`s QEDI back in 2001; and
* The approval by the SA Competition Tribunal for the Altech/NamITech deal, subject to the disposal of its card manufacturing business, Africard (but excluding its card personalisation bureau) and the status change to non-exclusive re its Datacard personalisation equipment distributorship.

Furthermore, on the local front, look out for resolution of the boardroom dispute at Intervid.

* We saw a significantly increased bid for PeopleSoft by Oracle ($26 per share);
* Scipher`s announcement that it would sell-off half of its operations; and
* The Nasdaq National Market`s approval of HP`s dual listing on Nasdaq and the NYSE.

International strategic partnerships were announced between Comcast and T-Mobile, and between DPS Telecom and Tridium.

Additionally, look out for the outcome of the bid by Nexans, the French cable maker, for Alcatel`s fibre optic business.

Other international news included:

I have always believed that our local capabilities in the ICT fields are very strong and that we should market the local opportunities more strongly overseas.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* The appointments of Anthony Angelini as CEO of Zomax, Gary Barnett as president and CEO of Aspect Comms, Michael Bealmear as CEO of HyperRoll, Kyle Bowker as president and CEO of Nextance, Martin Kahn as interim CEO of OneSource Information Services, Scott Klein as president and CEO of Information Resources, and John Xiao as CEO of hongkong.com;
* The resignations of James Anderson as CEO of Zomax, George Garrick as CEO of ActivCard, Stephen Schambach as co-founder of Intershop Comms and Dan Schimmel as president and CEO of OneSource Information Services; and
* Job loss announcements from Cigna and McData.

We saw excellent* figures from Altris, Emcore (back in the black), ESS Technology, iMergent, Pixar, Sina, SOHU.COM and Sonic Solutions.

Very good* numbers were reported by Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Aetrium (back in the black), Altiris, AML Comms (back in the black), ATMI (back in the black), BluePhoenix Solutions (back in the black), California Micro Devices (back in the black), Captaris, Corillian (back in the black), Endwave, Interphase (back in the black), InterVideo, j2 Global Comms, Kyocera, MKS Instruments (back in the black), Nam Tai Electronics, O2Micro, Performance Technologies, Primus Telecomms (back in the black), SMTEK (back in the black), THQ, Ultratech (back in the black), United Microelectronics, WebEx Comms and West.

Good figures* were recorded by Agilisys, APC, Apropos Technology (back in the black), Avocent, BindView, Boston Comms Group, Captiva, Casio Computer, CGI Group, FEI (back in the black), Getty Images, Hitachi (back in the black), LaBarge, Lionbridge (back in the black), Magic Enterprise Software (back in the black), Maxim Integrated Products, Nice Systems (back in the black), NTT DoCoMo, Quality Systems, Qualstar, Rogers Wireless (back in the black), Sharp, Singapore Telecom, SurfControl, Switchboard (back in the black), Trend Micro, TriQuint Semiconductor (back in the black), US Cellular, Valor Computerized Systems, Vishay Intertechnology (back in the black), Wanadoo; and Zomax (back in the black).

Satisfactory* figures were reported by Anixter International, Benchmark Electronics, CCC Information Services Group, Cerner, Computer Programs & Systems, Creo, Dassault Systemes SA, Datastream Systems, EDB Business Partner (back in the black), Ementor ASA (back in the black), Epcos AG, Equant, France Telecom, Gartner (back in the black), Harvey Electronics, IXOS Software AG, Matsushita Electric, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsui, MPS, Orange, PCTEL, Pegasus Solutions (back in the black), Pegasus Satellite Comms, Per-Se Technologies, Pitney Bowes, RadVision, Rudolph Technologies, SAP Systems Integration AG, Sega, Sprint, SRA International, Telephone & Data Systems (back in the black), Tietoenator and Trimble.

Mediocre* returns came from Atari, BCE, Cisco, CompuCom, Embratel Participacoes, eResearch Technologies, Ericsson (but back in the black), Infogrames Entertainment SA, Intrado, KT, LookSmart, Maximus, Nanya Technology, NetManage (but back in the black), OneSource Information Services, Online Resources, PanAmSat, Rogers Comms, Sitel, Snap-on, TeleCommunication Systems (but back in the black), Tucows and ZiLOG (but back in the black); while very poor results* came from IXYS (but back in the black) and MTS.

Losses* were posted by ACE*COMM, Akamai, Alcatel, Alvarion, American Superconductor, Applix, Arc International, Arris, Asyst Technologies, Avanex, Aware, Axeda Systems, AXT, Belden, Business Objects, Commerce One, Compugen, Critical Path, Danka Business Systems, EDS, eGain, Eiger Technology, eLinear, Equinix, FalconStor Software, First Virtual Comms, FreeMarkets, Giga-tronics, iBasis, iGate, Infonet Services, Innovation Group, Insignia Solutions, Intentia International AB, iPass, Insight Enterprises (but back in the black), Itron, Kintera, Larscom, Level 3 Comms, LG Electronics, Logic Devices, Meta group, Mitek Systems, Mobility Electronics, MRV Comms, MSL, Novadigm, ON Semiconductor, Onyx Software, PSi Technologies, Quantum, Radcom, Radware, Rainmaker, RiT Technologies, Roxio, Segue Software, Smith Micro, Three-Five Systems, Time Warner Telecom, Tower Semiconductor, TriZetto Group, Tut Systems, Tvia, Veeco Instruments, VitalWorks, WJ Comms, XRT, Zix and Zhone Technologies.

Other financial news included analyst upgrades for Black Box, Callidus Software, E.piphany, Equinix, Gateway, Nice Systems and Yahoo; analyst downgrades for Asyst Technologies, Avid Technologies, Business Objects, CompuCom Systems, Intrado, Open Text, PeopleSoft, Rudolph Technologies and Zomax.

There were also share offerings from Getronics, Intevac and M-Systems; share buy-back announcements from CenturyTel and Sybase; a shareholders rights plan from VIA NET.WORKS; a positive results/profit warning from Open Text; negative results/profit warnings (often veiled) from ActivCard, Ciena, Exabyte, Superconductor Technologies and Take-Two Interactive Software; share split announcements from Fair Isaac (3:2) and Microsemi (2:1); a very good IPO in Paris by ISP Iliad SA; good IPOs by AlphaSmart and Staktek; a possible IPO by Singapore-based StarHub; and planned IPOs in London (AIM) by Civica and in New York by Intelsat.

Additionally, Prologic Management Systems and its subsidiary, Basis, each filed for Chapter 11 reorganisation.

Locally

Beget (+16.7%)
Cycad (+100%)
Elexir (+100%)
Faritec (-16.7%)
Infowave (+37.5%)
Intervid (+22%)
Jasco (-15%)
Pinnacle (+8.8%)
Stella Vista (+25%)
Zaptronix (+100%)

Internationally

Applix (+24.8%)
Enherent (+50%)
Flintstone Technologies (+34.9%)
IDN Telecom (+25.2%)
IndigoVision (+45.5%)
Mitek (-31.8%)
Pegasus Comms (-37.8%)
Primus Telecomms (-30.7%)
Read-Rite (+50%)
SONICblue (+25%)

In terms of indices, Nasdaq was down 0.1% and the JSE down 0.4% for the week.

Last week saw the opening of two new call centres in Cape Town, adding to a growing list of overseas companies outsourcing these types of functions to SA, despite the costs being somewhat higher than those in India, for example.

We obviously have other positives to counteract the price issue. I have always believed that our local capabilities in the ICT fields are very strong and that we should market the local opportunities more strongly overseas. We already have companies doing their product development here and now the local call centre initiatives are beginning to flourish. This should be an encouragement for us all to carry the flag for our local ICT industry.

* 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.