Megabuyte - Technology sector intelligence

Educational IT supplier RM has issued a further update on trading this morning in its Q3 IMS which provides much more detail on the expected impact of recently announced government cuts to the BSF projects in which RM is involved. In the very short term, it appears to be business as usual for RM. Trading for the ten months to the end of July has been in line with expectations with 44 BSF schools and 15 academies implemented in the period although RM reminds us that the last couple of months are very important to the full year outcome. Perhaps more significantly, RM has now had a chance make a more detailed assessment of the impact of the recently announced cuts to the BSF programme on its business. Premium subscribers can read our assessment of the announcement in Newswire Plus.

IMImobile to raise WIN bid to 150p

The battle for WIN has taken another turn with IMImobile announcing that it will raise its bid from 141p per share to 150p, triggered by buying WIN shares last week at the higher level. This would match the indicative bid from ECI/MIG.  IMImobile’s share purchases have given it 9.55% of WIN, slightly improving its position. It all now depends on whether ECI/MIG decide to bid, and at what level. Premium subscribers can read the full story in Newswire Plus and Premium Plus readers can see our previous coverage of the bid battle here.

Pace to buy 2Wire

Pace has announced the acquisition of 2Wire Inc, a private US-based company, for £272m net of cash, which at a stroke will improve Pace’s market position in the US, among telcos, and in home gateways. Our conversations this morning with Amino CEO Andrew Burke suggest no immediate implications for Amino, which is focussed on the IPTV and OTT opportunities, though of course the relatively high multiples paid (0.67x historic sales cf Amino’s 0.4x FY10 sales) highlight’s Amino potential strategic value. Amino reports interims tomorrow. Read our first thoughts on the acquisition in Newswire Plus.

Strong performance in the right areas for Kofax

Document management solutions provider Kofax has issued an update to the market this morning covering its year ended June 2010. Overall, revenues and profits for the year are expected to be ahead of expectations but there has been differing performances from the software and hardware elements to the group. Read our full review and first thoughts in Newswire Plus.

US carriers benefiting from smartphone growth

Last week’s Q2 results from AT&T and Verizon showed AT&T getting the upper hand in growth terms, with better growth in wireless, still helped by the iPhone, offsetting similar declines in wireline.  In Wireless, both carriers benefited from increasing penetration of smartphones (iPhone and iPad for AT&T, Motorola Droid for Verizon), leading to c24% growth in wireless data revenues. See Newswire Plus for our full review of AT&T and Verizon’s results.