Google wins major case in EU

Anti-trust activities still dominated the international ICT market last week.

At home, the situation regarding Cell C is still very much in the spotlight.

• Very good year-end figures from Alaris Holdings, with revenue up 31.1% and profit up 24.9%.
• Full-year losses from Blue Label Telecoms, with revenue down 3.2%; and Net1 UEPS Technologies, with revenue down 37.9%.
• A negative trading update from Telemasters.
• DNI 4PL Contracts acquired Blue Label’s interests in Blue Label Mobile Group.

• Zambia's communications regulator has cancelled the licence for Vodafone's local franchise holder, Afrimax, citing a lack of technical and financial capacity.
• Nutanix has appointed Cyril VanAgt to lead Nutanix’s channel and OEM activities in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

• AMETEK acquired Gatan, a leading manufacturer of instrumentation and software used to enhance and extend the operation and performance of electron microscopes, for $925 million.
• Amazon bought INLT, a technology start-up, in a transaction that will help merchants on its online marketplace more easily import goods into the US.
• CenturyLink purchased Streamroot, a leading provider of disruptive technology, to improve video and static content delivery within bandwidth constrained areas.
• Facebook acquired CTRL-labs, a start-up that is exploring ways for people to communicate with computers using brain signals. The deal was worth $1 billion.
• India-based Haptik, an AI chatbot company, bought Buzzo.ai, an India-based conversational commerce start-up.
• Logitech International purchased Streamlabs, a leader in software and tools for live streaming, allowing game streamers to engage with viewers, grow their brands and channels, and monetise their broadcasts across platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Mixer and Facebook.

• NTT Data acquired Locus Telecommunications, a Thai system integration company.
• SS&C Technologies Holdings bought certain IBM algorithmic and related assets.
• Veeva Systems purchased Crossix, a privacy-safe patient data and analytics company.
• Alibaba Group has received a newly issued 33% equity interest in Ant Financial.
• Google has won a major case in the EU, when the bloc’s top court ruled the US Internet giant doesn’t have to extend the EU’s “right to be forgotten” rules to its search engines outside the region.
• Ericsson will take a $1.2 billion hit to third-quarter results from long-running US investigations into past corruption allegations.
• The US Justice Department will open an anti-trust investigation into Facebook.
• A US House panel has unveiled bipartisan legislation this week that would authorise $1 billion for small and rural wireless providers to replace network equipment from companies including Huawei Technologies and ZTE that lawmakers say pose a national security risk.
• Very good quarterly figures from Synnex.
• Good quarterly numbers from Jabil Circuit.
• Good half-year figures from Electosoft, Esker and Zegona Communications.
• Good year-end numbers from Blancco Technology Group.
• Satisfactory quarterly results from Accenture, FactSet Research and NetSol Technologies.
• Mediocre quarterly results from Micron Technology.
• Mediocre half-year figures from Alfa Financial Software.
• Mixed quarterly figures from Comtech Telecommunications, Endava, IHS Markit and Progress Software, with revenue up but net income down.
• Mixed half-year figures from Pintec Technology Holdings, with revenue down but net income up.
• Quarterly losses from BlackBerry and CalAmp.
• Half-year losses from Crossword Cybersecurity, Digitalbox, Immotion Group, Ingenta, Microsaic Systems and WANdisco.
• The appointments of Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham as co-CEOs of WeWork; Eran Saar as CEO of Cellcom Israel; and Scott Schenkel as CEO of eBay.
• The resignations of Bill Barney, CEO of Reliance Communications; Fulvio Conti, chairman of Telecom Italia; Sholem Lapidot, CEO of Cellcom Israel; and Devin Wenig, CEO of eBay.
• The departure of Adam Neumann, CEO of WeWork (stays on as non-executive chairman).
• A mediocre IPO on the Frankfurt Exchange by Germany-based TeamViewer, a provider of software for online meetings and remote desktop access.
• A disappointing IPO on Nasdaq by Peloton Interactive, the world’s largest interactive fitness platform.

South Africa:

• According to a report released by the Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, conducted in collaboration with research partner Venture Solutions, Southern African venture capital firms and fund managers invested around R5.37 billion in 665 active deals across the region in 2018, with R1.5 billion channelled towards South African small businesses.

EMEA/Africa:

• The MEA PC monitors market saw shipments reach a value of $168.98 million for Q219, with a total of 1.1 million units shipped, up 1.8% year-on-year, according to IDC.
• Africa’s fintech sector is booming, according to Kaspersky. Reports indicate it has grown 60% in the past two years, with 491 fintech firms now in business, compared with 301 in 2017; and $132.8 million was raised in 2018. The development of mobile technology has paved the way for Africa’s fintech revolution, where SA, Nigeria and Kenya account for 65.2% of Africa’s fintech start-ups.

Worldwide:

• The worldwide market for social software and collaboration in the workplace is expected to grow from an estimated $2.7 billion in 2018 to $4.8 billion by 2023, nearly doubling in size, according to Gartner.
• Worldwide shipments of devices – PCs, tablets and mobile phones – will decline 3.7% in 2019, according to Gartner.
• The worldwide market for smart home devices is expected to grow 23.5% year-over-year in 2019 to nearly 815 million device shipments, according to IDC. Worldwide shipments are forecast to be more than 1.39 billion in 2023, with a five-year CAGR of 14.4%.
• Worldwide converged systems market revenue increased 10.9% year-over-year to $3.9 billion during the second quarter of 2019 (2Q19), according to IDC.
• Vendor revenue from sales of IT infrastructure products (server, enterprise storage and Ethernet switch) for cloud environments, including public and private cloud, declined 10.2% year-over-year in 2Q19, reaching $14.1 billion, according to IDC. It also lowered its forecast for total spending on cloud IT infrastructure in 2019 to $63.6 billion, down 4.9% from last quarter's forecast and changing from expected growth to a year-over-year decline of 2.1%.

• JSE All share index: Down 2.1%
• FTSE100: Up 1.1%
• DAX: Down 0.7%
• NYSE (Dow): Down 0.4%
• S&P 500: Down 1%
• Nasdaq: Down 2.2%
• Nikkei225: Down 0.9%
• Hang Seng: Down 1.8%
• Shanghai: Down 2.5%

International:

• More regarding the anti-trust situations of the ‘big boys’.

South Africa:

• The Public Investment Corporation taking a stake in Liquid Telecom if Africa’s biggest fibre company goes ahead with a planned initial public offering.

Clutch, a leading B2B ratings and reviews platform, continues to grow its research on Africa’s thriving business services industry. It recently published a report highlighting 40 top-rated firms in Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. Clutch’s rankings are based on phone interviews with former clients, the companies’ offered services, and the companies’ thought leadership in their respective industries.

Ericsson will take a $1.2 billion hit to third-quarter results.

One-quarter (25%) of the companies in Clutch’s report offer mobile app development services. The next most commonly offered services are branding, Web development and video production.

The leaders (in alphabetical order within countries) are as follows:

Kenya:

• BluChip Solutions
• Eazzy Labs
• Grid Branding Solutions
• HQue Media
• Symatech Labs

Morocco:

• Attwood Digital Marketing Agency
• Hidden Founders

Nigeria:

• Acumen Digital
• Big Field Digital
• Brand Envoy Africa
• CloudNetIQ Labs
• DigitalSprout Creative Agency
• DY+ Language Solutions
• E-tech NG IT Solutions
• Firstcam Creative Studios
• foxtelbrands
• Intelia
• Sprinble
• Sprinthub Mobile

South Africa:

• Acumen Digital
• Agent Orange Design
• App Developer Studio
• Astral Studios
• Avirtual
• Bluegrass Digital
• BlueMagnet
• Bitcube
• BNRY Digital
• Cloudfusion
• Codeswop
• Intellinov Digital
• Lightstack
• Magnetic Global
• Saratoga
• So Interactive
• Thought Inc.
• Vaimo
• Webillism Web Design Company

Tanzania:

• EvMak Tanzania
• Serengeti Bytes

The above is a snapshot of Clutch’s Leaders Matrices as of mid-August 2019. Rankings are dynamic and the above may not reflect the rankings currently listed on Clutch’s Web site.