Technology stocks take a battering

The continued job loss announcements, profit warnings and the associated slump in stock prices dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

[VIDEO]At home, the continued battering of technology stocks also stole local headlines during a very quiet week worldwide.

* we saw satisfactory full-year numbers from Control Instruments (revenue up but earnings static and propped up by disposal of investments and operations);

* disappointing interims from Pinnacle Technology Holdings (revenue flat and earnings down); and

* a profit warning from Maxtec.

[Local]

Other local news included:

* Telkom`s announcement that it will not exercise its option for an additional year of exclusivity;

* the formation of a joint venture, Audio24, by Media24 and Interconnective Solutions; and

* the appointments of Steve Ayres as MD of Lotus Development SA, and Toni Gorlei as MD of SDD.

* Additionally, the invitation to apply for the second fixed-line operations licence will be issued in July.

* we saw the name changes of POP Comms to POP Interactive and ZapMe! To rStar Networks.

Watch out for the moves by KPN, the Dutch telecomms operator, to sell or reduce its interests in 27 "non-core" operations; the purchaser of Infonet Services; and the purchase of an optical business by Alcatel.

[International]

Other international news included:

* the appointments of Patrick Brockett as president and CEO of Mitel, John Curtis as president and CEO of Network Engines, Yorgen Edholm as CEO of DecisionPoint Applications, Harry Hobbs as president and COO of PSINet, Michael Lee as president and CEO of Cais Internet, and Michael Smith as president and CEO of Checkpoint Systems;

* the resignation of Anthony Capers, president of Xpedior, and the death of Thomas Endicot, president and COO of Integrated Silicon Solution; and

* job loss announcements from 3Com, Adaptec, Creative Technology, DoubleClick, Etensity, Invensys, Motorola, Net Perceptions, Oracle, Proxicom, Solectron, Teradyne, Xicor and Xpedior.

Ernst & Young recently published its annual report ratings of the top 100 companies in SA and from a technology perspective there wasn`t much good news.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

We saw excellent figures from All American Semiconductor, Dynex Power (back in the black), Electro Scientific Industries and Pinnacle Data Systems.

Good numbers were recorded by Delcam, France Telecom SA, FSI International (back in the black), Jabil Circuit, Polska Telefonia and Solectron.

Satisfactory results were posted by Accenture (but no earnings figures available), CII Technologies, Netsmart Technologies, Spectrum Control and Vitech America.

Mediocre returns came from Aehr Test Systems (but back in the black), Audiovox, Global Payments, Hutchison Whampoa, MAI (but back in the black), NetComm and Progress Software.

Very poor results were posted by Infinite Graphics and Merrimac (but back in the black).

Losses came from 3Com, ACTV, ART Advanced Research Technologies, Austar, Cellular Technical Services, Centennial Comms, Essex, Gauss Interprise AG, IDT, iMagicTV, Integra SA, Intelli-Check, Liberate Technologies, Luminant Worldwide, Micron Electronics, Net2Phone, Optical Cable, ORBIT/FR, ParkerVision, Red Hat, Riverstone Networks, Saba Software, Sorrento Networks, Starnet Comms, Telewest Comms, Tibco Software, Tom.com, Torridon, Tyler Technologies, Universal Display, Viasource Comms, Virtual Internet, Voss Net, Wanadoo SA and WorldPort Comms.

Other financial news included profit warnings from 3Com, Adaptec, Arrow Electronics, Aspect Comms, Audiovox, Avnet, Baltimore Technologies, Cognex, Corning, CyberOptics, Dallas Semiconductor, Dot Hill Systems, HP, Insight Enterprises, Invensys, Jabil Circuit, Kent Electronics, NetIQ, Net Perceptions, Philips Electronics NV, Plantronics, Powerwave Technologies, Proxicom, Quantum DLT & Storage, RadiSys, Solectron, Think Tools, Three-Five Systems, Toshiba, Vixel and Xicor.

There was a satisfactory IPO from Verisity (software maker), a withdrawn IPO from Rackspace.com, and yet another change in the pricing for the IPO of Agere Systems, Lucent`s optical electronics component group, which could still be the second largest public offering in US history.

Additionally, Marlborough Stirling, the UK financial services software group, is set to become the first IT company to list on the main board of the LSE this year; Nasdaq halted trading in Xpedior stock; E.spire Comms filed for bankruptcy protection; and Fortel heads for a possible Nasdaq de-listing.

Locally

Core Holdings (-60%)

Cyberhost (-33.3%)

Dectronic (-37.5%)

Hicor (-28.5%)

I-Tech (+66.7%)

OSI (-44.4%)

Pradatech (+37.5%)

SecData (-30%)

Synergy (+33.3%)

Y3K (+42.9%)

Internationally

ARC International (-34.9%)

Aspect Comms (-43.2%)

Baltimore Technologies (-36.6%)

Broadbase Software (+46.3%)

Manugistics (+41.4%)

Rambus (+61.7%)

Transact Technologies (+57.7%)

Tibco Software (+34.2%)

Winstar Comms (-49.5%)

XKO (-58.7%)

Ernst & Young recently published its annual report ratings of the top 100 companies in SA. From a technology perspective there wasn`t much good news. The casualties from 1999 were CCH, Ixchange and Softline, while AST was the only addition for 2000. The only technology companies in the "Good" category were M-Cell and Reunert; AST, Allied Technologies, Comparex and Dimension Data were rated "adequate", while Datatec fell in the "unsatisfactory" category. No technology companies rated in the excellent category, which contained 23 names.