Staff cuts still on the rise

The flood of quarterly results, including those from British Telecom, Cisco and Philips, and the ever-growing list of companies shedding staff, dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

[VIDEO]At home, the outcome of the Telecommunications Colloquium stole most of the local attention.

• we saw reasonable interim numbers from Seartec (revenue slightly down but income well up); and
• profit warnings from Jasco and Sethold.

[Local]

Other local news included:

• the formation of a procurement software company by Comparex (PQ Africa) and Brait, called Intenda;
• the handover of the CEO position at Altron by Bill Venter to his son Robert;
• the news that the International Data Corporation is likely to buy-out its local partner BMI-TechKnowledge; and
• the incorporation of Oracle SA as a subsidiary within the UK structure.

• we saw the spin-off of America Movil, the mobile arm of Mexico`s Telmex;
• the name changes of FirstWorld Comms to Verado and Netcom Technologies to VelociTel; and
• the split by Sprint and Earthlink re their three-year-old marketing alliance.

Watch out for the eventual fate of the Sema Group, which is being courted by Schlumberger and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.

[International]

Other international news included:

• the appointments of Chuck Berghoff as president and CEO of Summit Microelectronics, Chris Dines as CEO of Ovum, and James McGowan as president and CEO of Infinium;
• resignations of Doug Hickey, CEO of Critical Path, and James Kinsella, CEO of Tiscali; and
• job loss announcements from Ace*Comm, Barnes & Noble.com, Belgacom, business.com, CacheFlow, Century CyberWorks, CNET Networks, Credence Systems, Dell, InfoSpace, Motorola, NaviSite, Nokia, PC-Tel, Peritus Software Services, Razorfish, Stamps.com and Verizon.

Watch out for the eventual fate of the Sema Group, which is being courted by Schlumberger and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

We saw excellent figures from Accord Networks, AXT, Bell Microproducts, Cognizant Technology, ICT Group, Manufacturers` Services, MetaSolv, Metro One Telecomms, MKS Instruments, Radware, Simple Technology, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, TriQuint Semiconductor, TTM Technologies and Vishay Intertechnology.

Good numbers were recorded by ATMI, Benchmark Electronics, Boston Comms Group, Canon, ChipPAC (back in the black), Cisco, Computer Access Technology, ComputerLand SA, Concord EFS, EXE Technologies (back in the black), GTSI, Hyundai Electronics, Integic, OneSource (back in the black), Orbotech, Ovum, PCD (back in the black), Philips Electronics NV, RiT Technologies (back in the black), SunGard, Tele Nordeste Celular Participacoes SA, Veeco, ViaSat and Zonic.

Satisfactory figures were posted by Ansys, APAC Customer Services, Applied Innovation, Baldwin Technology, CommScope, CyberOptics, Dassault Systemes, Dataram, DRS Technologies, ECsoft Group, EDS, eFORCE, Entercom Comms, General Semiconductor, Infonet Services (back in the black), InterDigital, Network Appliances, Network Six, ONTRACK Data International, Performance Technologies, Perot Systems (back in the black), Rogers, Siliconix and Telecom Italia Mobile.

Mediocre returns came from British Telecom, Computer Sciences, Embratel Participacoes SA, GenRad, Mascot Systems, Metro Information Services, MTS, Perceptron, Pomeroy Computer Resources, Radiant Systems, SS&C Technologies (but back in the black), Sitel, Sypris Solutions, TDK, TeleTech Holdings, WorldCom and Zebra Technologies.

Very poor results came from AM Comms, Brooktrout, CTG, Franklin Electronic Publishers, Interphase, Jacada, OAO Technology Solutions, Paravant, Sierra Systems, TDK Mediactive (but back in the black) and Versant (but back in the black).

Losses were reported by Aether Systems, Affymetrix, ANTEC, APA Optics, Applied Microsystems, Apropos Technology, Ask Jeeves, AT&T Canada, Barnes & Noble.com, CacheFlow, Cambridge Technology Partners, Caminus, Cedara Software, Centura Software, Chordiant Software, CNET Networks, Corillian, Cotelligent, Cox Comms, Creo, CyberGuard, Cylink, Digimarc, Digital Insight, E*Comnetrix, EarthWeb, Emcore, enherent, Epic Data, Equinix, Exceleron, Flag Telecom, Franklin Telecom, Glenayre Technologies, Globus Wireless, GRIC Comms, GT Group Telecom, Image Sensing Systems, Imaging Technologies, Information Resources, Insignia Systems, Intelligroup, internet.com, Internet America, Jupiter-Media Metrix, Lantronix, LightPath Technologies, Mainspring, Mercator Software, Meta4 NV, Metricom, MicroStrategy, Net2000, Netcentives, NetZero, Nextera Enterprises, Notify Technology, Novatel Wireless, ONI Systems, Optika, Par Technology, Paradyne Networks, Pegasus Solutions, Per-Se Technologies, Poet Holdings, Predictive Systems, Preview Systems, Primus Telecomms, Proxicom, QRS, RadView Software, RADVision, Razorfish, RCN, Repeater Technologies, Sagent Technology, Sanchez Computer Associates, Sapiens International, SatCon Technology, SCC Comms, SciQuest, Segue Software, SEEC, Smith Micro Software, SOHU.com, Sonic Solutions, Syntellect, TCSI, Tecnomatix Technologies, TeleComms Systems, Time Warner Telecom, Tioga Technologies, Versata, Vertel, Viant, Vixel, WatchGuard Technologies, Williams Comms, XO Comms, Xplore Technologies and Zoom Telephonics.

Other financial news included profit warnings from Boston Comms Group, Broadcom, Cisco, CommScope, JD Edwards, Mercator Software, Nice Systems, Philips Electronics NV, SeaChange International, Serena Software, TDK, Toshiba and XO Comms.

There was also a share split announcement from The Cyber Group Network (reverse); a very successful new sharing offering from DoCoMo worth over $8 billion; a satisfactory IPO from KPMG Consulting; withdrawn IPOs from LinkShare (business networks), Personify (Web analysis software) and Telect (broadband connectivity); and the de-listing of NorthPoint Comms from Nasdaq.

Xhaed = Stock movements

Locally

Acuity (-40%)
Core (-40%)
Cyberhost (-50%)
Explorer (+66.7%)
Idion (-26.3%)
JemTech (-40%)
Maxtec (-36.4%)
Micrologix (-33.3%)
OSI (+53.3%)
Sekunjalo (+42.3%)
Synergy (+66.7%)

Internationally

Applied Micro Circuits (-32.4%)
American Nortel Comms (-40.7%)
CacheFlow (-42.8%)
Data I/O (+56.3%)
Geoworks (-29.7%)
Metricom (-59%)
Portal Software (-36.2%)
Sherwood International (+50.8%)
Telefonos de Mexico SA (-40.3%)
Ursus Telecom (-38.2%)

This week sees the long-awaited floatation of Orange by France Telecom; and more quarterly results, including those from Cablevision, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Magic Software and Novell.