Megabuyte - Technology sector intelligence

BT has beaten market expectations with its Q2 results, with revenues down 3% and EBITDA up 3% and, as a result, has increased its EBITDA and FCF guidance for the year (by about 10%) and has also upped its longer term FCF guidance. The recovery continues at Global Services, with a 31% jump in the order book, whilst Business retail also performed well on the back of increased IT and mobile spending. Read our full review of the results in Newswire Plus.

Cisco stock slips on weak outlook

Networking equipment giant Cisco posted its quarterly results to October overnight which were slightly better than market expectations. However, the company’s shares slipped on the back a weak outlook statement. Q1 2011 revenue went up 19.2% to $10.75bn, with growth witnessed in both product and service revenue which were up 20.8% and 12.6% to $8.7bn and $2bn respectively. However, net margins declined to 18.0% from 19.8% in Q1 2010, as net income grew by only 8% to $1.9bn. Read our full review in Newswire Plus.

SRT finds £2.5m in new funding

Marine navigation specialist Software Radio Technology has capitalised on its recent strong interim results (Premium Plus readers see here) to raise £2.5m in new funding, with a further £2.5m of secondary sales from major individual shareholders to meet institutional demand, all at an impressive zero share price discount.  The new money will help bring forward the development of new products, increase sales capabilities and fund working capital to shorten product delivery times. 

Focus Solutions bid talks

We somehow managed to miss the announcement from Focus Solutions on Tuesday saying that it is in talks which may lead to a bid. Focus shares, which were trading below 50p as recently as September, closed last night at 130p valuing the company at nearly £40m. We have not heard any chat about possible suitors but there are any number of banking software vendors which would be interested. It’s also conceivable that one of Focus’s clients may want to effectively take it ‘in-house’. Read our first thoughts on the bid in Newswire Plus.

CSC posts a mixed bag

US based technology services provider Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) reported its second quarter results ahead of market earnings expectations but fell short on revenue expectations. Revenue fell slightly to $3.98bn from $4.04bn in Q2 2010, mainly due to a 4.5% decline in North American Public Sector revenue to $1.55bn. Revenue from the Managed Services sector and Business Solutions was up slightly; 0.1% and 0.6% to $1.58bn and $869m respectively. New bookings went down by 2.2% to 4.5bn. The decline in revenue and higher tax expenses took the net income down 14.8% to $184m. Premium subscribers can read our full review of the results here.