It was an interesting day of Friday in relation to SmartStream after we posted a story on the delayed IPO. First of all, many thanks to Richard Holway for the credit on his hotviews blog. On a less positive note, we were a bit miffed about being misquoted in the FT as saying that Fidessa is a competitor to SmartStream when actually we said that it was a comparator. During the day the quote was picked up on Elton Cane's blog on Finextra - with some pretty harsh words attached - you can read the post here. Still, they do say that no publicity is bad publicity. We didn't spot any further press comment on SmartStream or Telecity over the weekend.
With results season pretty much over, we look forward to some period end trading updates from March and September year end companies. Phoenix IT has started the ball rolling this morning with a period end trading update for the six months to September. Although there trading at Phoenix is said to be in line with expectations, the statement also notes that the integration of ICM is likely to cause some disruption. It is difficult to know whether this statement is simply noting that the integration of ICM will be a significant task for the group or whether it is preparing the market some financial impact of the integration in Phoenix's fiscal H2. The shares have opened down a shade at 382p.
Of the other companies with September period ends, we will be particularly interested to hear from Detica, whose shares have dropped by around a quarter over the summer. The interim management statement in August noted integration difficulties with DFI in the US, so we wait to see what progress has been made there. Also, it will also be interesting to see if the turmoil in the credit markets is having an impact on Detica's financial services practice which now represents around 25% of revenues. Detica didn't issue an interim period end trading update last year so we may need to wait until the results in November to find out more. Other companies with September period ends include, Civica (trading update 18 October last year), Intec Telecom Systems (no trading update last year until November) and The Innovation Group (trading update expected in late October).
On the M&A front, BT has made further advances in the IT sector with the acquisition of IT reseller Lynx Technology for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of Lynx, which has revenues of just under £50m, follows the recent purchase of Basilica and sees BT significantly raising its profile in the SME IT solutions market.
Please note that there will be no morning update tomorrow.
