Quarterly results flood begins

The international ICT market continues to be dominated by numerous acquisitions, despite the start of the quarterly results flood that saw excellent or very good numbers from Apple, eBay and Yahoo.

However, Hyperion Solutions, IBM, Intel and Scientific-Atlanta (which is being acquired by Cisco) reported disappointing numbers.

On the local scene it is still quiet, although there were a handful of local investments/acquisitions announced.

* Google bought dMarc Broadcasting for over $1 billion.
* Choice Technologies becomes a 100% black empowered company following the buyout of Dimension Data`s 49% shareholding by an unnamed investor.

* The acquisition of US-based Zephyr Management Africa`s stake in Atio by a local consortium led by Ethos Technology and involving management.
* Integrated Tertiary Software purchased Integrear Abacus.
* A group of empowerment partners acquired a 31.2% share of IQ Business Group.
* Maxtec was appointed as the South African distributor for Pillar Data Systems.

* Principal Investments bought 49% of Dimension Data`s Botswana business.
* The Ugandan government is to set up a separate ministry to manage and co-ordinate the ICT sector.
* The government of Kenya is to set up an ICT Authority centre.

Choice Technologies becomes a 100% black empowered company following the buyout of Dimension Data`s 49% shareholding by an unnamed investor.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Konica Minolta exited its camera business with some assets going to Sony.
* Imation bought Memorex International.
* Getronics sold off its Italian operation and several other operations in continental Europe.
* Oracle acquired 360Commerce, a retail e-business applications vendor.
* Positive results announcements from NCR, Tripath Technology and Verso Technologies.
* Negative result warnings from Faro Technologies, Getronics, I-Mate, Ilog SA and Jumpit.
* A job loss announcement from Konica Minolta.

* An investment by IBM in India`s Satyam Computer Services.
* The sell-off of Pixar Animation to Walt Disney.
* The purchaser for the Caudwell Group, a privately-owned retail and telecommunications group.
* The buyer for Millicom International Cellular.

* According to IDC, 2005 revenue in the e-mail archiving application market will top $310 million worldwide and grow at a compound annual rate of 34.5% through 2009.
* IDC forecasts the worldwide VOIP semiconductor market will reach over $2.4 billion by 2009 with a compound growth rate of 38.9% for the period 2004-2009.
* According to In-Stat, the pre-WiMax-certified equipment market will rise from $42 million in 2005 to lb3.2 billion in 2010.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.7% (all-time high close)
* Nasdaq: Down 3%
* Top SA share movements: Dimension Data (+8.1%), Dynamic Cables (+8.3%), GijimaAst (+15.2%), Spescom (+7.7%), Stella Vista (+17.6%), Vesta (+40%) and Zaptronix (-23.1%).
* Top international share movements: CRC (-20.2%), Enition (+20.8%), Epicus Communications Group (-25%), Entrada Networks (-50%), I-Mate (-26.5%), Level 8 Systems (+25%), Millicom International Cellular SA (+31.9%), Patientline (+38.5%), Peerless Systems (-21.7%) and Silverline Technologies (-21.1%).

The new edition of Fortune magazine contains its latest list of best companies to work for in the US. From a technology perspective, the highest rated organisations were Qualcomm at 23 (41 last year), Cisco at 25 (27), Network Appliance at 27 (24), SAS Institute at 30 (16), CDW at 34 (14), Microsoft at 42 (57), Intuit at 43 (64) and SRA International at 45 (81).