To die for

The Diebold/Nixdorf deal and yet another consolidation in the semiconductor sector were the highlights of the international ICT market last week.

At home, Vodacom's announcement regarding Neotel was the main local ICT news.

* Satisfactory interim figures from Huge Group, with revenue up 8.1% and profit up 70.3%.
* Mixed interim numbers from Amecor, with revenue up 19% but profit down 12.1%; and Naspers, with revenue up 9.9% but profit down 10.4%.
* Mixed year-end figures from Reunert, with revenue up 6.7% but profit down 49.1%.
* Positive trading updates from Ansys and Huge Group.
* Business Connexion Group acquired Anco-IT, a provider of business application solutions exclusively using Oracle Applications.
* The UK's M&C Saatchi bought Creative Spark, an independent South African digital agency.
* Vodacom wants to "explore a revised transaction structure" for its proposed Neotel buyout, delaying the Competition Tribunal merger hearing.
* Local telecoms solutions provider Tellumat has merged its ICT infrastructure assets into its Tellumat Integrated Solutions business unit. It has also amalgamated its Tellumat Professional Services - the group's infrastructure consulting and services arm - with two newly acquired companies, CK Solutions and Structured Connectivity Solutions.
* The appointment of Kholiwe Makhohliso as Oracle SA's country manager.
* The resignations of Neotel's chief corporate services officer, Tracy Cohen, and Steven Whiley, CFO of Neotel.

* Satisfactory quarterly figures from Sudatel, with subscriber numbers up 3.7%, revenue up 0.6% and profit up 15%.

Vodacom wants to 'explore a revised transaction structure' for its proposed Neotel buyout.

* Apple acquired Faceshift, the maker of motion capture technology used in Star Wars.
* ATM maker Diebold bought Wincor Nixdorf for $1.8 billion, in a move that creates the world's largest ATM industry player by capacity.
* Comtech Telecommunications purchased TeleCommunications Systems for $430.8 million.
* Descartes Systems Group acquired Oz Development, a US-based provider of application integration solutions that help SMEs automate a number of logistics and supply chain processes.
* Equifax bought Australia's Veda Group, a data analytics company, for $1.6 billion.
* Microsemi purchased PMC-Sierra for $2.3 billion, after Skyworks Solutions withdrew its agreed takeover bid for the latter.
* Mobilink acquired 100% of Warid's shares, in return for Warid owner the Dhabi Group buying 15% of Mobilink's shares. Following this, Warid will then be merged into Mobilink. Mobilink, which is owned by VimpelCom via its Global Telecom Holding unit, leads the Pakistan mobile market, with 35.2 million customers at the end of September, giving it a 29% share.
* Sabre bought the Trust Group of Companies, a central reservations, revenue management and hotel marketing provider with a significant presence in EMEA and Asia Pacific.
* Zayo Group Holdings, a provider of communications infrastructure services, purchased Allstream, a company that offers bandwidth and telecoms services to business and public sector customers across Canada. Allstream is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MTS, Canada's fourth largest provider of telecoms services.
* A statement was made recently that copyright laws don't shield a major Internet provider from liability for illegal music downloading by its subscribers, according to a ruling in a closely watched case between cable company Cox Communications and two music publishers.
* A jury of a US district court has made a preliminary decision to fine Taiwan-based LED epitaxial wafer and chipmaker Epistar US$9.3 million for infringing a US patent possessed by Trustees of Boston University.
* America Movil plans to sell its stake in KPN.
* Very good quarterly figures from Infineon Technologies.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Brocade Communications Systems and Veeva Systems.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Daktronics, HP and QAD.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Analog Devices, with revenue up but profit down; and Tech Data, with revenue down but profit up.
* Quarterly losses from Palo Alto Networks.

Worldwide:
* Worldwide business analytics services spending will reach $58.6 billion in 2015 and $101.9 billion in 2019, representing a compound annual growth rate of 14.7%, according to IDC. Adoption of new technologies and lack of internal skill sets will drive increased external spending on business analytics services throughout the forecast period.

* JSE All share index: Down 1.2%
* Nasdaq: Up 0.4%
* NYSE (Dow): Down 0.1%
* S&P 500: Flat (marginally up)
* FTSE100: Up 0.6%
* Nikkei225: Flat (marginally up)
* Hang Seng: Down 3%
* Shanghai: Down 4.6%

International:
* Alibaba selling a stake in Meituan-Dianping, the online booking and discounts platform likened to Groupon of the US, as part of a plan to focus on an alternative 'online to offline' service, and take on Baidu and Tencent.
* Vodafone's preparation for an IPO of its operations in India.
* Turkcell's offer for Fintur, the business through which TeliaSonera controls telecoms assets in four Eurasian markets. As it stands, Turkcell holds 41.45% of Fintur, with the remaining 58.55% in the hands of TeliaSonera, which consolidates the results of Fintur's mobile operator subsidiaries in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Moldova with its own.

South Africa:
* Further developments regarding Vodacom and Neotel.

Digital marketing is now mainstream and digital commerce is a top priority for marketers, according to a Gartner survey of marketing executives. The survey also found marketing budgets increased 10% in 2015, with 61% of respondents saying they expect budgets to increase again in 2016.