ROUNDUPS
In the papers 17 April
17-04-2002
by Paula Mythen
Bouygues Telecom is to bid for a 3G licence in France | IBM says it will transfer its loss-making hard drive business into a joint venture with Hitachi
The Irish Times reports that Intel announced a net profit of USD936 million for the first quarter, up from a year earlier, but the company said that revenues were nearly flat. First-quarter revenues of USD6.8 billion were down three percent from the previous quarter, but up two percent from the corresponding quarter a year ago. Analysts expected USD6.79 billion dollars in earnings. The company reported USD0.15 per share in net income before acquisitions, in line with analyst expectations. Read the full story from ElectricNews.Net.
The Financial Times reports that Bouygues Telecom, a subsidiary of the French construction group, is to bid for a EUR619 million licence to operate a third generation mobile telephone network in France, according to reports in Les Echos. The company is expected to be the sole candidate for the second licensing round forced on the French government after an initial offer of four licences in August 2000 attracted bids only from France Telecom and its largest rival, SFR. In response to the poor first round take-up the French government cut the price of its 3G licences and extended their duration from 15 to 20 years. Bouygues, which already runs a second generation network, will issue between EUR750 million and EUR1 billion of bonds to help buy the licence and build the telephone network. The group is also understood to be close to an agreement to acquire the I-mode technology from NTT DoCoMo to use on the network.
The same paper reports that IBM said it would transfer its loss-making hard drive business into a joint venture majority owned by Hitachi, as part of a broad alliance between the two companies to develop advanced data storage systems for large corporations. No date has been set for the formation of the joint venture, which will be 70 percent owned by Hitachi and based in San Jose, California. The Japanese company will pay IBM for select hard drive assets and will employ IBM staff. The two companies will purchase hard drives from the joint venture.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Motorola Inc.'s first-quarter net loss narrowed from a year earlier despite a 22 percent drop in revenue. The company posted a loss of USD449 million, or USD0.20 a share, for the quarter, compared with a loss of USD533 million, or USD0.24 a share, during the same period last year. Revenue for the quarter dropped to USD6.02 billion from USD7.68 billion. The results include charges, largely for depreciation of assets and investment losses, of USD275 million, compared with charges of USD327 million last year. Excluding those charges, which are part of ordinary operations, Motorola would have posted a loss of USD174 million, or USD0.08 a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call expected a loss of USD0.12 a share.
The paper also reports that RealNetworks Inc. swung to a profit in the first quarter while revenue slid 6.1 percent. Net income was USD1 million, or a penny a share, compared with a loss of USD24.4 million, or USD0.15 a share, a year earlier. Revenue declined to USD47.3 million from USD50.4 million a year earlier. Revenue from software licensing fell 18 percent to USD24.4 million from USD29.6 million. A brighter spot at RealNetworks was the company's subscription business, revenues from which more than tripled to USD13.6 million from USD4.3 million.
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