Megabuyte - Technology sector intelligence

Shares in provider of software to the life sciences sector Instem start trading on AIM this morning having completed an IPO in the face of a decidedly soggy new issues market. Those readers with very long memories will remember that Instem was listed back in the days of the USM but the company was rather larger back in those days. The company was taken private in 1998 with funding from Alchemy and was then divided into its three divisions with the other two being sold off.

The part of the company coming back to the market provides study management software which organises and analyses pre-clinical data for customers such as of GSK and AstraZeneca. The company generated revenues of £9.8m and operating profits of £2.2m in 2009. The company raised £9.2m of which £3m (net) goes to the company; the market cap at the issue price is £20.5m. We spoke to CEO Phil Reason yesterday about the company and the reason behind the IPO and will be initiating coverage of the company in the next few days.

Storming interims from Datatec

ICT services group Datatec has issued a very strong set of interim results this morning driven, in part, by a particularly strong performance in Westcon. Group revenues for the six months to August were ahead 19% to $2.1bn with EDITDA up by nearly a third to $58.5m. Whilst acquisitions did play a small part, organic growth was a healthy 14%. Revenues from the distribution division Westcon increased 19% to $1.4bn and EBITDA increased 13% to $43m. In Logicalis, revenues were up 22% (11% organic) to $479.2m and EBITDA increased by a third to $21.8m. Read our first thoughts on the results in Newswire Plus.

Vyke removes Old Guard

Mobile VOIP provider Vyke has parted company with long time Executive Chairman Tommy Jensen as well as long standing board member Jorgen Peter Rasmussen, thus removing most vestiges of the existing Vyke management team. This follows the JV with Bonjour Europe (Premium Plus readers see here), which we viewed as effectively a reverse takeover, and comes after a long period of under-performance

Atos swimming in treacle

French IT services major Atos Origin issued its third quarter result this morning that continued to show a decline in revenue, though the fall was lower than in previous two quarters. Revenue for Q3 2010 declined by 3.5% to €1.2bn, on constant currency basis. Managed services and Systems integration revenue were down 6.9% and 3.5% to €452m and €412m respectively, offsetting the 5.5% growth in Hi-tech transactional services revenue to €258m. The company’s performance in the domestic market improved with a 3.6% growth, but weakened by 7.8% in the UK market. Adding to the worries was book to bill ratio that touched 0.9x compared to 1.14x in the first half.

Despite the expected revenue loss due to Arcandor’s (major German client) bankruptcy, the company reaffirmed its guidance for the full year and projects strong order book in the current quarter with an expected book to bill ratio of 1.2x. The shares have opened down 0.7%.

Corporate demand drives Intel to post record quarterly results

Chipmaker Intel posted yet another record quarter with quarterly revenue crossing the $11bn mark for the first time, though at $11.1bn falling short of the $11.2-12bn guidance set at the time of Q2 results (and subsequently revised down), but still up a healthy 18%. Read our full coverage in Newswire Plus.