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- British chip designer ARM has record quarter
- UK economy shrank 0.5% in latest quarter
- UK CFOs getting more pessimistic
- British security risk management firm doing ‘OK’
- UK IT stocks fairing better than average?
- UK’s Autonomy wins deal with Fiat
- British search firm Simplexo partners with Ingres
- UK's Kofax buys Swedish OptiInvoice
- UK's Xchanging buys controlling stake in Indian outsourcer
- Bank of England policymaker says interest rates “must come down”
- UK economy “on its way into recession”: chief economist
- UK components maker sees tough times ahead
- UK video streaming co. to de-emphasise Europe; CEO quits
- Autonomy stock up 22% as it announces EC license
- British ‘iPhone chipmaker’ sees falling demand; stock crashes
- British energy-saving devicemaker sees strong pipeline
- UK IT healthcare vendor ponders MBO
- Detica wins HMRC deal
- Mind the GAAP: the risk of trusting pro forma results
UK Tech Finance Blog: October 2008 Archives
British chip designer ARM has record quarter
October 28, 2008
Cambridge-based microchip designer ARM Holdings was rising on the LSE today after it announced record quarterly revenue and said it expects its next quarter to be in line with expectations.
Its quarterly revenues were up 7% year on year to $134.4m. For the first time ever it said its processor division saw a billion units reported during the quarter: it doesn’t manufacture its own chips, so it’s all about how many its licensees make.
“Although the global macroeconomic conditions make the near-term trading environment uncertain, based on the order backlog, robust licensing pipeline and underlying momentum in royalties, we expect that group dollar revenues in Q4 2008 will be at least in line with expectations,” the company said in a statement. “In addition, we anticipate that profits and earnings will benefit further from the strengthening of the dollar against sterling.”
Commenting on the results, Warren East, CEO, said: “In Q3, ARM delivered the best quarterly revenue performance in its history and we continue to see strong demand for ARM’s technology including long-term commitments for our physical IP technology by industry leaders.”
“We are encouraged to see that the inherent operating leverage in the ARM business model, combined with sound cost discipline and the recent strengthening of the dollar against sterling, has given rise to earnings growth in Q3 of more than 20% on dollar revenue growth of 7%,” East said.
UK economy shrank 0.5% in latest quarter
October 24, 2008
The UK economy shrank by 0.5% -- more sharply than expected -- in the three months to September, official data released on Friday showed. It is the first official confirmation that the UK is entering a recession, although Bank of England governor Mervyn King used the ‘r’ word in a speech early this week, saying a recession is “likely”.
Respected bodies such as the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Development and business lobby group the CBI have said the UK economy started shrinking in July...[click continue reading for Global Insight economist Howard Archer's predictions for the UK economy]...
UK CFOs getting more pessimistic
October 13, 2008
Optimism among Britain's company finance directors has deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks, with over half now not expecting a recovery in credit conditions until 2010 or later, a survey by Deloitte said on Monday.
The report, called 'Digging in for the Downturn', said with chief financial officers planning for a prolonged period of distress in credit markets, cost cutting and cash preservation had come to the fore...[click continue reading for more survey results]...
British security risk management firm doing ‘OK’
October 10, 2008
Red24, which calls itself a security risk management services provider, said it remains confident of meeting market expectations for the six months ended Sept. 30 as trading has been in line with forecasts.
A sign, perhaps, that the security market is more likely to weather the financial storm than certain other sectors?
The company, formerly known as ARC Risk Management Group, said it will announce its interim results on Nov. 12.
UK IT stocks fairing better than average?
October 09, 2008
While the FTSE 100 is down 1.4% today -- despite the latest UK financial bailout plan -- the FTSE Techmark 100 index of IT companies is up 0.9% at the time of writing.
Perhaps simply a reflection that the Techmark does not include the shares of the beleaguered banks, it’s still reasonably good news for the IT sector, if it continues. It begs the question, will the IT sector emerge in better shape after this latest market crash than other industries? Drop me a comment below and have your say.
UK’s Autonomy wins deal with Fiat
UK-based enterprise search and information management firm Autonomy announced that automotive giant Fiat Group has chosen Autonomy to power its portal eTech, which provides technical assistance to Fiat’s dealers and workshops worldwide.
The project implemented in Fiat Group Automobiles covers Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Fiat Professional brands and supports customers in more than 80 countries.
eTech is the technical documentation research point of reference for Fiat Group Automobiles’ network of auto traders who submit in excess of 25,000 technical queries a month in 11 different languages.
“Ensuring every Fiat Group Automobiles service point has on-line access to “first aid tools”, such as technical assistance documentation manuals, and service news, despite language or location, is vital to ensure the high level of service our customers demand,” commented Mario Ghirardotto, Fiat Group Automobiles ICT Quality and Technical Service Process Leader. “Powered by IDOL, eTech enables our dealers to quickly find repair information inside Fiat’s technical service knowledge base. The feedback we are getting from the field has been very positive,” said Ghirardotto.
IDOL’s unique Conceptual Search capability is said to enable service points to locate and access relevant content instantly even if the keywords used in the original query do not feature in the results.
British search firm Simplexo partners with Ingres
October 08, 2008
Simplexo, a UK-based open source enterprise search specialist, announced a partnership with open source database and services player, Ingres.
Joint customers will benefit with access to Ingres Database, a high performance enterprise grade open source database, coupled with Simplexo’s ability to securely search all enterprise information with a single click, the companies said.
Alistair Handyside, CEO of Simplexo, said: “Our partnership will address the strategic need for real-time enterprise search within the financial services market, where immediate, secure access to historical information is not only a business priority but also a regulatory necessity.”
“By joining forces with Ingres, the real time enterprise search capability of Simplexo Enterprise will complement the Ingres IceBreaker BI Appliance, which delivers all an organization’s business intelligence needs from reporting, analysis, and dashboards to complete data integration with existing systems,” said Simplexo.
Simplexo, an enterprise search firm that competes with the likes of Autonomy, Endeca, Google Enterprise and more, says its differentiator is the ability to search structured and unstructured data in real-time, with a single click.
It also assigns security according to role-based policy enforcement, and when it is first installed and configured can be set only to search non-confidential information within the company.
Microsoft recently acquired Norway’s Fast Search and Transfer to give it a story in the enterprise search space.
UK's Kofax buys Swedish OptiInvoice
October 06, 2008
British diigtal capture and exchange outfit Kofax announced that it has acquired Swedish e-invoicing firm OptiInvoice Digital Technology for £1.57m.
Kofax is paying £1.57m now with possible earn-outs in the range of £1.03m to £7.84m depending on the target's performance over the next four years and the retention of certain employees.
Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, OptiInvoice provides software that allows electronic invoices and other documents to be digitally encrypted and transmitted or submitted via e-mail and other data streams in standard text, image and extensible markup language (XML) file formats. It then allows the recipient to accept and process those files...[click continue reading for further details of the transaction]...
UK's Xchanging buys controlling stake in Indian outsourcer
At close of business on Friday, UK FTSE-listed services company Xchanging bought a controlling stake in Indian-listed outsourcing firm Cambridge Solutions Limited.
Xchanging is paying £83m for a 75% stake. The combined company said it is expected to be one of the largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firms serving the private sector, with combined revenue of around £600m.
"This offer is a very positive development," said Satyen Patel, vice chairman of Scandent Holdings Mauritius Ltd, which was the majority shareholder of Cambridge Solutions prior to this deal."Cambridge and Xchanging are complementary businesses that together create a global business processing and IT services leader."
"Xchanging brings its history of rapid and sustained growth, proven lean processing capability and a strong European presence," said Patel. "Cambridge brings its international delivery of complex IT and significant scale and capacity in the US, Australia and India."
Standard Chartered Bank was the exclusive financial advisor to Scandent Holdings Mauritius Ltd in the transaction, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Bank of England policymaker says interest rates “must come down”
October 03, 2008
Bank of England policymaker David Blanchflower told a regional newspaper that interest rates “must come down”.
In an interview with the Gloucestershire Echo, he said: “We are a committee of nine and we will make a decision on Thursday,” he is quoted as saying. “But my view is that the interest rate must come down and I will be telling that to the committee. But it's Cheltenham and it's like betting on the races.”...[click continue reading for more on this entry]...
UK economy “on its way into recession”: chief economist
A senior economist has said that there is, “Little doubt... the economy contracted in the third quarter and is on its way into recession”.
The news comes as Britain’s services sector, which accounts for about three quarters of the country's economy, shrunk at the fastest rate since 1996...[click continue reading for more on this entry]...
UK components maker sees tough times ahead
British electromechanical components maker Elektron posted results that saw pretax profit on continuing operations fall to £101,000 from £1.11m pounds a year earlier. However revenues were up to £19.4m from £15.6m last time.
The company said it is facing challenging conditions and that it expects the market to remain tough in the second half. The firm said it is on the lookout for acquisitions, and that the current economic turbulence could work in its favour when seeking suitable targets...[click continue reading for more on this entry]...
UK video streaming co. to de-emphasise Europe; CEO quits
October 02, 2008
British video streaming small-cap firm, Vividas, announced it is cutting European operations to focus on Asia-Pac and North America, and added that chief executive Paul Neville has decided to step down immediately.
The UK firm said with the video streaming market still in its infancy and the economic climate toughening, the board has decided to focus on those markets where the business has enjoyed the most traction to date and which offer the greatest opportunities.
The company says it has developed streaming software technology able to transmit HD quality video over normal broadband connections, without the need for users to download and install plugins.
Reducing its European operations and focusing on Asia-Pacific and North America will generate cost savings of about £500,000 per year, Vividas said.
But the group added that it is currently reviewing "all strategic options for the business as it focuses on maximising shareholder value". That kind of language is often code for 'looking for a buyer'.
Autonomy stock up 22% as it announces EC license
British information management and enterprise search vendor Autonomy has seen its shares rocket 22% on the LSE today as it announced that it has entered into a license agreement with the European Commission to license Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer software.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
British ‘iPhone chipmaker’ sees falling demand; stock crashes
Edinburgh-based chipmaker Wolfson Microelectronics reported a sharp downturn in orders in the past few days, as weak consumer confidence hits demand. The news has sent its shares tumbling by as much as 25% to a new low.
It said it now expects fourth-quarter revenue to be between $45m and $50m, compared with a previous consensus expectation of $58.87m according to a survey of three analysts by Reuters Estimates.
The company, which makes chips for products including Apple’s iPhone, said it experienced a “material reduction” in orders intake and more rescheduling of orders in recent days...[click continue reading for more on this entry]...
British energy-saving devicemaker sees strong pipeline
AIM-listed Sabien Technology Group, which makes and sells energy saving devices, said its sales pipeline looks 'very promising' and should start delivering revenues during 2008-09.
The company makes devices that are claimed to save a company money on its boiler or air conditioning costs as well as reduce its carbon footprint...[click continue reading for more]...
UK IT healthcare vendor ponders MBO
AIM-quoted Ascribe reported a higher full year pretax profit and said its management buyout talks are still continuing, which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company.
For the year to end-June, the healthcare technology provider posted a pretax profit of £3.8m from £3.0m a year earlier, as sales increased 14% to £17.4m.
The company also said it is confident it will continue to meet management expectations in 2008/2009.
Detica wins HMRC deal
October 01, 2008
There’s not been much good news for UK-based technology companies in the past few days, but at least UK-based Detica was able to announce it has won a deal with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)…[click continue reading for more on this entry]…
Mind the GAAP: the risk of trusting pro forma results
Welcome to the first entry in CBR's new UK Tech Finance Blog. We'll be covering UK tech company finances, M&A activity, funding, stock and regulatory issues. Do add it to your RSS reader of choice or if you're a bit 'old-school' for that, simply bookmark it and come back to keep an eye on UK tech finances.
For this first entry, we pose the question: 'Should you analyse Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial results or let vendors share their ‘pro forma’ or ‘non-GAAP’ figures with you?'
A news story we ran on CBRonline.com last month stirred up a hornet’s nest, with the IT vendor in question accusing CBR of reporting that was “absolutely factually incorrect”. According to the spokesperson, “[We don’t] define net income as profit. We go on operating income. You said profit dropped 40% which is absolutely wrong: it was down only 4%.”...[click Continue Reading for more on this entry]...
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