Lenovo buys stake in Fujitsu

Lenovo's latest acquisition and rumours of the largest consolidation deal in the semiconductor sector, which could top $100 billion in value, were the main stories of the international ICT market last week.

At home, the Ansys deal and the new investment by Naspers were the local highlights.

* Satisfactory interim numbers from MiX Telematics, with revenue up 9.3% and profit up 5.4%.
* Mediocre half-year figures from ISA, with revenue down 31.8% and profit down 30%.
* An interim loss by Cell C.
* Ansys acquired LAWtrust, an IT developer and provider of cyber/information security solutions, for R108.5 million.
* Velocity Group bought a majority stake in MLC Solutions, an IT services business.
* Naspers led a R1.6 billion investment in Remitly, an independent digital remittance company focused on the North American market.
* ATIO, a specialist ICT services company, has achieved a level one B-BBEE status, awarded by Mazars, a SANAS-accredited B-BBEE verification agency.
* Four black-owned South African financial services start-ups each won R1 million at a pitching event hosted by AlphaCode, a club for next-generation fintech entrepreneurs, backed by RMI Holdings. The four businesses were Commuscore, Investsure, Cascade and Everest Ventures.
* A new JSE cautionary by Cognition Holdings.

* Good half-year numbers from Econet, with revenue up 17% and profit up 228%; and Safaricom, with revenue up 11.8% and profit up 9.5%.
* The announcement of a new undersea cable network, the PEACE submarine cable project, spanning about 6 800km, which will connect South Asia (via Pakistan) and East Africa (via Djibouti and Kenya).
* MTN has launched an incubator programme for tech start-ups in Ivory Coast.
* Zambia's government has confirmed plans to pay the $382 million it owes Libya's LAPGreen Network in compensation over the Zamtel saga.
* Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore has taken leave on medical grounds and will be away from the company for an unspecified time.

Samsung has appointed three new joint CEOs.

* Lenovo Group bought a 51% stake in Fujitsu's personal computer unit for $269 million.
* Snap purchased Metamarkets, a tech start-up that will allow it to visualise data more thoroughly.
* SS&C Technologies Holdings acquired Modestspark, a digital service provider to financial advisors and wealth management firms.
* Synopsys bought Black Duck, a leader in automated solutions for securing and managing open source software.
* TELUS International purchased Xavient Information Systems, a global IT consulting and next-generation software services company.
* VMware bought VeloCloud, a cloud networking start-up.
* Web.com Group purchased the assets of Acquisio, a business software provider for online advertising management.
* Qualcomm has sued Apple, alleging it violated a software licence contract to benefit rival chipmaker Intel for making broadband modems.
* Arqiva's plans are up in the air as it cancels its £1.5 billion IPO in London.
* The $1.2 billion payment by Tata brings to a close a three-year dispute over DoCoMo's 26.5% stake in Tata Teleservices.
* Russian investment bank Gazprombank has agreed to buy Telia's remaining 19% holding in Russian operator MegaFon for $1 billion.
* Samsung has appointed three new joint CEOs: Kim Ki-nam as CEO of the Device Solutions division; Koh Dong-jin as CEO of the IT and Mobile Communications division; and Kim Hyun-suk as CEO of the Consumer Electronics unit.
* Excellent quarterly results from Alibaba, Arista Networks, Cognex, ESI (back in the black) and Universal Display (back in the black).
* Very good quarterly figures from Cirrus Logic, Cohu, EPAM Systems, Facebook, IPG Photonics, Samsung Electronics, Sony, Stamps.com and Teledyne Technologies.
* Good quarterly numbers from American Tower, Apple, Arrow Electronics, BCE, Cogent Communications, Cotiviti, DAZAN Zone Solutions (back in the black), Equinix, GoPro (back in the black), HannStar Display, II-VI, Insperity, Kyocera, Lumentum (back in the black), Nice Systems, Orbotech, Paycom Software, Qualys, Quanta Services, Rogers, Roper Technologies, Sharp (back in the black), Sierra Wireless (back in the black), Sonus Networks (back in the black), Systemax (back in the black), TPK Holding, Ultimate Software, Win Semiconductors, XO Group and Yelp.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from ADP, Allied Motion Technologies, AMC Networks, Ansys, Arris International, BCE, CACI International, CDK Global, CDW, Check Point Software Technologies, Chicony Power Technology, Cogent Communications, Cognizant, CPSI, Entravision Communications, First Data, Fiserv, Garmin, GCP Applied Technologies, Inovalon, MDC Partners (back in the black), Motorola Solutions, MSG Networks, Oclaro, Perficient, Plantronics, Rudolph Technologies, Sabre, SBA Communications (back in the black) and TransAct Technologies.
* Mediocre quarterly results from BT Group, CommScope, FIS, FormFactor, Key Tronic, MagnaChip Semiconductor, MediaTek, Qualcomm and Teradata.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Activision Blizzard, with revenue up but profit down; Amkor Technology, with revenue up but profit down; Axcelis, with revenue up but profit down; Belden, with revenue up but profit down; CSG Systems International, with revenue up but profit down; Discovery Communications, with revenue up but profit down; Entercom Communications, with revenue up but profit down; ePlus, with revenue down but profit up; Harris, with revenue down but profit up; IDT, with revenue up but profit down; j2 Global, with revenue up but profit down; Lenovo, with revenue up but profit down; OpenText, with revenue up but profit down; Pitney Bowes, with revenue up but profit down; Qorvo, with revenue down but profit up; Sanmina, with revenue up but profit down; Shenandoah Telecommunications, with revenue down but back in the black; TE Connectivity, with revenue up but profit down; Telesat, with revenue down but profit up; Tower International, with revenue up but profit down; TTM Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Verisk Analytics, with revenue up but profit down; and Westell Technologies, with revenue down but back in the black.
* Very poor quarterly figures from Groupon (but just back in the black).
* Quarterly losses from 3D Systems, Acxiom, Aerohive Networks, Alice USA, Appian, Apptio, ARC Document Solutions, ATN International, Black Box, BlackLine, Boingo Wireless, Bottomline Technologies, Callidus Software, Cardtronics, Cavium, Cincinnati Bell, Consolidation Communications Holdings, Cray, Datawatch, Diebold-Nixdorf, EA, Echelon, FireEye, Fitbit, Frontier Communications, Gartner, General Communications, Glu Mobile, GTT Communications, Hortonworks, Impinj, Inphi, Inseego, Internap Networks, Intersect ENT, ITG, Kratos, Liberty Global, Lite-On Technology, MicroVision, Mitel Networks, MobileIron, O2 Micro International, Orbcomm, Pandora Media, Quotient Technology, Radware, RealNetworks, Sequans Communications, Shopify, Symantec, Tableau Software, TiVo, Unisys, Varonis, Viavi Solutions, Weatherford, Xperi, Young Optics and Zendesk.
* A planned IPO in Hong Kong from Razer, the equipment maker for computer gamers, which is backed by Intel and Hong Kong's wealthiest man Li Ka-shing.
* A very good IPO on Nasdaq by Altair Engineering, a product design and development, engineering software and cloud computing software company.
* A satisfactory IPO on the NYSE by Aquantia, a maker of high-speed circuits for Ethernet connectivity.

Worldwide:
* Global shipments of notebooks (excluding detachable two-in-one models) declined 4.2% year-on-year to 40.79 million units in Q317, according to Digitimes Research.
* Worldwide data services for hybrid cloud (DSH) revenue will reach $68.8 billion by 2021, according to IDC. According to the forecast, the DSH market is expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 20%, which is 15 percentage points faster than the worldwide software market.
* 3Q17 closed with 40 million tablets shipped globally, a decline of 5.4% year-over-year, according to IDC.
* Smartphone OEMs shipped a total of 373.1 million smartphones worldwide in 3Q17, according to IDC. Third quarter volumes were up 2.7% year-over-year and up 7.4% from the second quarter.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.6% (highest weekend close)
* FTSE100: Up 0.7% (highest close)
* DAX: Up 2% (highest close)
* NYSE (Dow): Up 0.4% (highest close)
* S&P 500: Up 0.3% (highest close)
* Nasdaq: Up 0.9% (highest close)
* Nikkei225: Up 2.4% (highest weekend close this year)
* Hang Seng: Up 0.6 (highest weekend close this year)
* Shanghai: Down 1.3%

International:
* Broadcom making a $100 billion+ bid for rival chipmaker Qualcomm.
* Marvell Technology acquiring Cavium in yet another consolidation within the semiconductor sector.
* Bharti Infratel buying the stake it doesn't own in its Indus Towers unit from Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and a private equity firm.
* SoftBank Group reigniting talks to merge Sprint with T-Mobile US.

South Africa:
* The outcome of MTN's move to have Turkcell's $4.2 billion lawsuit against it thrown out by the high court in SA, arguing, among other things, that several previous attempts by its rival, in other forums, to seek redress against the Johannesburg-based mobile operator have failed.

Fortune magazine has published its 2017 list of the 'the US's 50 most powerful women'. In the list, from a technology perspective, are:
* 5: Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
* 6: Ginni Rometty, chairman and president, IBM
* 7: Meg Whitman, CEO, HPE
* 8: Safra Catz, co-CEO, Oracle
* 10: Ruth Porat, SVP and CFO, Google, Alphabet
* 13: Angela Ahrendts, SVP, Retail, Apple
* 14: Susan Wojcicky, CEO, YouTube, Google, Alphabet
* 26: Amy Hood, EVP and CFO, Microsoft
* 38: Julie Sweet, CEO, North America, Accenture
* 40: Bridget van Kralingen, EVP and CFO, IBM
* 47: Bonnie Hammer, chairman, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, Comcast