ASSEMBLErS
Oracle funds BEA buy
month Mkt cap
Price (4
%
)
10.03.08 - 10.04.08
change 4
P/E ratio
m
Oracle Corp has announced the pricing of its sale of $5bn (€3.16bn) worth
Gericom 0.71 17 8 -
of investment-grade notes, saying it will use the net proceeds to fund the
purchase of BEA Systems, for other acquisition-related expenses and for
Cibox 0.25 9 25 - general corporate purposes. The offering is expected to close on this month.
At the same time, BEA announced that at a special meeting of stockholders
Lintec 0.16 -72 1 -
held on 4 April, its stockholders adopted the Agreement and Plan of Merger,
Maxdata 1.92 16 56 -
dated 16 January, 2008, among BEA, Oracle Corporation and Bronco Acquisition
Corporation, “pursuant to which BEA will become a wholly-owned subsidiary
Medion 15.86 -10 765 of Oracle”. Approximately 99.9% of the shares of BEA common stock
entitled to vote and present at the special meeting were voted to adopt
Transtec 3.50 6 13 70
the Agreement and Plan of Merger, constituting approximately 68.6% of the
Olidata 0.84 -3 29 -
outstanding shares of BEA common stock.
Optimus 0.89 57 142 - The transaction still requires regulatory clearance from the European
Commission and is subject to other closing conditions. BEA and Oracle
RM (£) 2.57 -4 238 14
anticipate that the merger will close soon after receiving clearance from
the European Commission. Unless the European Commission decides that
an additional review period is necessary, BEA and Oracle currently expect
DISTrIBUTOrS
Price (4
% month Mkt cap
) ratio
to receive clearance of the transaction at the completion of the European
10.03.08 - 10.04.08
change 4
P/E
m
Commission’s Phase I review period which ends on 30 April, 2008.
Groupe Open 11.35 4 124 31
Problems with Avaya and Europe were cited as a reason why the shares of
Computerlinks 11.61 -5 78 7
ScanSource tumbled last week. The company said its quarterly sales would
fall far short of its previously announced target. Its share price lost 10% after
MuM 5.30 7 69 17
ScanSource said sales for the quarter ended 31 March would come in between
Esprinet 7.40 10 388 12
$509m (€322m) and $515m (€325m). The company had predicted in January
that sales for the quarter would range between $550m (€348m) and $570m
IT Way 6.29 -1 28 30
(€361m). ScanSource chief executive Mike Baur said that “our overall business is
Datatec 2.21 -15 374 10
not struggling.” He attributed most of the shortfall to a particular pricing issue
the company is trying to work out with Avaya, a key vendor to its Catalyst
Scribona 0.48 -1 38 -
Telecom division. Baur also said that an unexpectedly weak performance in its
international point-of-sale and barcode scanning business during the quarter
ALSO 36.85 -7 223 24
also had a negative impact on sales. Sales growth in the segment slowed to
COS 16.38 5 31 34 17% versus the prior-year quarter, or 8% on a constant currency basis, the
company said.
Arena 0.08 -11 58 -
Baur said the new Avaya product line in question is “telephone PBX, high end,
that is bought by companies needing 500 handsets and higher.” He said the
DCC Group (£) 15.51 3 1250 10
average price for such a system is around $100,000 (€63,000). By contrast, he
Fayrewood (£) 1.45 -2 34 11
said, ScanSource’s average invoice is about $2,000 (€1,300). “It’s obviously a big-
ticket item for us,” Baur said. Baur said Catalyst Telecom and Avaya had been
Horizon Group (£) 0.97 137 80 11
working on the problem and that Avaya had announced a pricing change. The
Northamber (£) 0.58 0 17 16
effect during the March quarter was that customers either decided to delay
purchases or shopped for another vendor, he said.
Anixter 39.69 -6 1410 10
ScanSource will announce full financial results for the March quarter on 24
April, and Baur said the company should know by then whether the Avaya
Arrow 20.77 -5 2575 10
issue will affect business going forward and the reason for the weaker-than-
Avnet 21.16 0 3181 11
expected international sales in its point-of-sale and barcode scanning business.
The announcement follows one last week in which ScanSource said it had
Bell Micro 1.37 -18 44 -
acquired MTV Telecom Distribution Plc, a distributor of voice and data
products based in the United Kingdom. “This is the first step in our strategy of
Ingram Micro 10.38 8 1614 11
expanding our business in Europe,” Baur said.
Tech Data 21.30 4 1125 17
Alcatel-Lucent’s annual report for last year which was published last week,
makes interesting reading: the waiting game for its recovery goes on, it
seems. In the course of 2007, it experienced delays in the execution of the

S

ource: Thomson Financial Datastream
integration and cost reduction plans. In addition, the challenges inherent
26 18 Apr 2008
It0807 - 26-31_financials.indd 26 16/04/2008 10:59:28
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32