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Quarterly losses abound

Last week saw a host of quarterly losses reported by most of the major Japanese technology players and others.
Paul Booth
By Paul Booth
Johannesburg, 01 Aug 2005

Quarterly results dominated the market internationally, with losses being recorded by most of the major Japanese technology players and others such as Gartner and Siebel Systems. At home, it was yet another very quiet week.

Highlight of the past week

* France Telecom`s EUR10.6 billion acquisition of Amena Movil SA.

Key local news

* Mediocre interim figures from Control Instruments with revenue down and profits only marginally up.
* Positive trading updates from Business Connexion and Digicore.
* The appointments of Vuli Cuba as non-executive chairman of Mustek, Pierre du Plessis as CEO of RAH, Joe Madungandaba as acting-CEO of Jasco, and Niall Moynihan as country manager of Check Point Software.
* Sekunjalo makes another acquisition with the purchase of business consultancy, Cynthesys.
* MTN and Vodacom both now boast over 17 million subscribers. However, the ratios of SA to non-SA subscribers are very different, with Vodacom dominating the local market.

Key African news

* The appointment of Shem Ochuodho as CEO of the Rwandan Information Technology Authority.
* The announcement of the shortlist for the purchase of 51% of Nigeria`s Nitel and M-Tel. The list includes MTN and Telkom SA/Vodacom as well as Celtel, Huaweii/Jacuz Consortium (China), Newtel and Orascom (Egypt).
* Namibia`s second cell licence put on hold.

Key international news

Last week CBR published its latest list of the fastest revenue-growing technology companies, with Cambridge Silicon Radio at number one.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Computer Associates acquires Qurb, its second security-related buy in the last month.
* Cisco makes another acquisition: Sheer Networks, a provider of intelligent network and service management products.
* The appointments of Alexander Cappello as chairman of Inter-Tel, Robert Clasen as chairman of Path 1, James Mahan as CEO of S1, James Ringler as chairman of NCR, Mike Seashols as chairman of Avolent, David Thompson as chairman of Third Wave and John Wallace as interim CEO of Xantrex Technology.
* The resignations of David Hayes as CEO of DAT Group and Steven Mihaylo as chairman of Inter-Tel (stays on as CEO).
* Analyst upgrades for Actuate, Adobe, Amazon.com, Amkor Technology, Artesyn Technologies, Business Objects, Ceradyne, Citrix, Cognizant Technology, Cree, Getty Images, Honeywell, i2 Technologies, InterDigital, iPayment, ITG, j2 Global Communications, Logitech, M-Systems Flash, Maxtor, Mercury Interactive, Netflix, Pervasive Software, Pitney Bowes, Radiant Systems, S1 International, Silicon Labs, STMicroelectronics, Sun Microsystems, Take-Two Interactive Software, Tumbleweed Communications and Veeco Instruments.
* Analyst downgrades for Adaptec, Andrew, Applied Micro Circuits, Aspect Communications, ATML, AudioCodes, BT Group, Catapult Communications, Ceridian, Cognos, Computer Associates, DiamondCluster International, Electronic Arts, GSI Group, Harte-Hanks, InFocus, International Rectifier, Intuit, KLA-Tencor, Lexmark, LSI Logic, Mercury Computer Systems, MicroStrategy, Motorola, MTC Technologies, Pixelworks, Powerwave Technologies, Sanmina-SCI, SAP, Scientific-Atlanta, SS&C Technologies, Superior Essex, Synaptics, Talk America, Volterra Semiconductor and Xerox.
* Positive results announcements from Alcatel, Atos Origin SA, Dassault Systemes and EDS.
* Negative result warnings from Captaris, Cyberonics, DAT Group, Kana Software and Sony.
* Stock repurchase announcements from Check Point Software, ChoicePoint, Entrust, Lexmark, MicroStrategy, Solectron and Texas Instruments.
* Job loss announcements from Computer Associates, Iomega and Lexmark.
* Private funding obtained for GraniteEdge Networks, a security start-up; Identrus, a provider of identity management software; ImageWare Systems, a provider of identity management systems; and Inlet Technologies, a provider of encoding solutions.
* Wearable computing company, Xybernaut, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
* Outsourcing company Bisys Group is to re-state its financial numbers for 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Look out for

* Vodacom`s possible sell-off of its Japanese arm and a possible bid for a majority stake in Poland`s Polkomtel, the third largest operator in that country.
* Oracle`s buy-in to India`s I-flex Solutions, which develops the world`s best-selling banking software.

Research results and predictions

* Small and medium businesses spend up to 60% of their IT budget on infrastructure, says Gartner.

Stock market changes

* JSE All share index: Up 0.8% (highest-ever weekend close)Nasdaq: Up 0.2% (highest 2005 weekend close)
* Top SA share movements: Beget Holdings (-10%), DataPro (-10%), FrontRange (+10.2%), I-Solutions (+20%), Idion (-13.6%), Stella Vista (-11.8%), Vesta (+42.9%) and Zaptronix (-8.7%).
* Top international share movements: Belgravia Telecom (-42.9%), Broadvision (-37.2%), Cybit Holdings (+31.4%), DA Consulting Group (-80%), Entrada Networks (-57%), i2 Technologies (+94.6%), LogicVision (+34.4%), MDSI Mobile Data Solutions (+59.8%), Patientline (-40.2%) and Pixelworks (-34.1%).

Final word

Last week CBR published its latest list of the fastest revenue-growing technology companies, with Cambridge Silicon Radio at number one, followed by Certicom, Novatel Wireless, CDC and Research in Motion.

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