Telkom IPO delay tops the news

The acquisition of Hughes Electronics by EchoStar Comms for over $25 billion, and the tentative deal to settle the Microsoft/Department of Justice anti-trust case dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

[VIDEO]At home, the delay of Telkom`s IPO and the sudden plunge in Prism`s share price stole much of the local headline space.

• we saw good half-year figures from OSI Holdings (revenue up and back in the black);
• an interim loss from Hicor (total revenue also down);
• profit warnings from Datacraft Asia, part of the Dimension Data stable, Spicer and Zaptronix; and
• a 14.5% investment by Treacle in ERP.com.
• As from today, I-Fusion`s shares have been suspended on the JSE following the approval of the scheme of arrangement with Bidvest.

[Local]

Other local news included:

• the establishment of a South African office by Chordiant Software;
• the formation of AccountMate Africa, part of Softline, to handle AccountMate Software in sub-Saharan Africa;
• the involvement of a strategic black partner with CS Holdings;
• the postponement of Telkom`s IPO until the 2002/3 financial year;
• the settlement re the staging of Tel.Com next year in favour of the CCSA;
• the appointments of Stephen Conradie as chairman and Mark Kaplan as CEO of DNA Supply Chain; and
• Memtek-MMW seems to be the first Siltek entity that will not survive the Siltek collapse.
• Additionally, we could see Spicer selling-off its last remaining asset, which is not performing particularly well; and we wait to see who is first to force Core Holdings into provisional liquidation.

• we saw the name change of Intrusion.com to Intrusion, Perceptronics to Alpha Virtual and the proposed name change of VA Linux to VA Software;
• the announcement that Cingular Wireless is overhauling its technology and moving to a GSM-based capability;
• the announcement that Acer would merge with Acer Sertek, a distribution company, with the latter becoming the survivor entity; and
• the news that the DOJ and Microsoft have agreed a tentative outline for a settlement in their anti-trust battle.

Memtek-MMW seems to be the first Siltek entity that will not survive the Siltek collapse.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

Additionally, look out for the buyer of France Telecom`s 86% stake in Dutch cable operator Casema; the acquisition of a UK-listed company by Futuremedia; and the fate of NextCard, which is on the brink of bankruptcy.

[International]

Other international news included:

• the appointments of William Anderson as CEO of Bell Canada International, William Beans as CEO of SwitchPoint Networks, Michael Borman as COO of Blue Martini Software, Robert Carroll as president and CEO of AMX, Edward Coleman as chairman of CompuCom, Ellen Lary as president and CEO of eSystems, Lawrence Sala as chairman of Anaren, Bruce Shirey as president and CEO of ConSyGen, Michael Treschow as chairman of Ericsson, and Bob Walters as CEO of Stratum8Networks;
• the resignations of Howard Balter, CEO of Net2Phone and Sir Peter Bonfield, CEO of British Telecomms (as from January 2002); and
• job loss announcements from ACT Manufacturing, Adobe, Alcatel, AT&T Latin America, BEA Systems, Cymer, Datacraft Asia, Dell, Genuity, Hybrid Networks, InterTrust Technologies, KPMG, Loudeye Technologies, OpenWave Systems, Sonera, Telect and Verity.

We saw excellent figures from Minorplanet Systems, RDM (back in the black) and Wavecom SA (back in the black).

Good numbers were recorded by Catapult Comms, Commonwealth Telephone, Concord EFS, CSG Systems International, Covansys (back in the black), eUniverse (back in the black), Global Imaging Systems, Hector Comms, M-Wave, Macrovision, Opnet Technologies and S&T System Integration & Technology Distribution AG.

Satisfactory results were posted by Aftermarket Technology, Alltel, Brightpoint (back in the black), Cadapult Graphic Systems, Canon, Innotrac, John H Harland, Planar Systems (back in the black), Portugal Telecom, Read-Rite (back in the black), Ricoh and Tier Technologies.

Mediocre returns came from Acer, AXS-One, Cadmus Comms, CenturyTel, Computer Access Technology, APAC Customer Services, Computer Sciences, Enterasys, Fuji Photo, GlobeSpan (back in the black), Group 1 Software, IKOS Systems, Intergraph (but back in the black), JDA Software, Keithley Instruments, Madge Networks NV (back in the black), Mentor Graphics, Mitsubishi Electric, Nam Tai Electronics, O2Micro, Pioneer, Saga Comms, Sharp, SPSS, Sykes Enterprises (but back in the black), TDK, TMNG, Verizon Comms and Viisage Technology.

Very poor results were posted by Allin (back in the black-just), Covansys (but back in the black), Frontstep (back in the black), Intelligroup (but back in the black), MDSI, Merisel (but back in the black), RADVision, RCM Technologies, RiT Technologies, Ross (but back in the black0, Semitool (but back in the black), TeleTech Holdings, TransNet, ValueClick (but back in the black-just), Virage logic, VSE and Witness Systems.

Losses came from 3Dlabs, Accelerated Networks, Acme Comms, ACT Manufacturing, Acterna, ActivCard, Airspan Networks, Alamosa Holdings, Alcatel, Allen Telecom, AlphaNet Solutions, Alternative Resources, American Superconductor, AMX, Applied Imaging, Ask Jeeves, AT&T Canada, ATSI Comms, Aware, Axsys Technologies, BindView, Bitstream, Bookham Technology, Catalyst International, Century Business Services, Charter Comms, ChipPAC, Ciber, ClickSoftware, Coherent, Comcast, Comms Systems, Computer Horizons, Cotelligent, Cray, CrossWorlds Software, CTC Comms, Cysive, DCTI, Delano, deltathree, Deutsche Telekom AG, eGain Comms, enherent, Epicor Software, ePresence, Essex, Evolve Software, eXcelon, Ezenia!, F-Secure, FiberMark, FlexiInternational Software, Frontline Comms, Gartner, Genuity, Geoworks, Globecomm Systems, GlobeSpan, GraphOn, Hitachi, Hypercom, IDT, IDX Systems, Image Sensing Systems, ImageX, Infinium, Infowave, Ingram Micro, INT Media Group, Intasys, IntelliCorp, Internet Commerce, Intershop Comms AG, InterTrust Technologies, interWAVE Comms, iPrint, Iron Mountain, ISSI, IXOS Software AG, Jacada, JVC, KPNQwest NV, LanOptics, Lantronix, Lionbridge, Madison River Comms, Mapics, MapInfo, Matsushita Electric, Maxwell Technologies, Mercator, Metalink, Micro Component Technology, MicroStrategy, Mobility Electronics, Motient, MRO Software, MRV Comms, MSL, Nashua, Nematron, NetGenesis, NetManage, NetRatings, Next Level Comms, NICE Systems, nStor, Numerex, ON Semiconductor, ON Technology, Onyx Software, OpenWave Systems, Pegasus Comms, Pegasus Solutions, Partner Comms, Perot Systems, Previo, Primal, Printware, ProBusiness Services, PSi Technologies, Qwest Comms, Radware, Ramtron, Razorfish, Resonate, S1, Sagent Technology, Sand Technology, Satmex, SCI Systems, SciQuest, Sina, Sitel, SmartDisk, Sohu.com, SONICblue, STM Wireless, Switchboard, SynQuest, TDC, Telaxis, TeleComms Systems, Telenetics, Totalise Plc., Tower Semiconductor, TransAct Technologies, Transaction Systems, Triant, Tricord Systems, Tut Systems, UbiquiTel, United Microelectronics, USinternetworking, V-One, Versata, Versatel Telecom International NV, VIA NET.WORKS, Viewpoint, Williams Comms, Zarlink Semiconductor and Zixit.

Other financial news included share buy-back announcements from Advanced Fibre Comms, Foundry Networks and Read-Rite; profit warnings from 365 Corp, ADC Telecom, Adobe, Alcatel, BEA Systems, Canon, Dycom Industries, Expedia, Hitachi, Ingram Micro, Pioneer, Portal Software, Sharp, Solectron and TDK; and a satisfactory IPO from LogicVision (semiconductors).

Locally

Aqua Online (-20%)
Control (-18.2%)
Cyberhost (+100%)
Jasco (-22.2%)
Pinnacle (-20%)
Prism (-42%)
Spescom (-24.5%)
Spicer (+200%)
Vesta (-26.7%)
Zaptronix (-40%)

Internationally

Arch Wireless (+50%)
AXS-One (+40.6%)
DA Consulting Group (+50%)
Focal Comms (-36.6%)
Frontline Comms (+57.9%)
Infinium (+62%)
Internet America (+52.2%)
Madge (+36.4%)
ScanSoft (+35.1%)
SGI (+48.9%)

I wonder if the latest on the Microsoft/DOJ activity is the final fling on this long-running saga, or whether there is more to come. Maybe the next few weeks will give us a clue?

Finally, my next column will be dated 19 November as I will be away during the next few days, but as usual it will cover the whole of the intervening period.