Waterloo Tech Digest - June 2, 2008
Compiled and written by
Gary Will
gary@garywill.com
In this issue:
--Gary Will
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
ENHANCE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
INO can deliver competitive advantage to fuel company growth. As described in this video, INO's optical recognition technology helped Optosecurity raise $20 million in financing and create a world-class team. You'll find further information on INO's optical recognition technology here. Please contact Glenn Smith in Waterloo at 519-502-1305 to explore how INO might deliver competitive advantage to your organization.
IT SEARCH AND PLACEMENT SERVICES
Procom is currently ranked as the 4th largest IT professional services firm in Canada. (Branham 300, Financial Post, April 2007). Recently awarded one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies, Procom is a proud, Canadian-owned, privately-held company. Our local KW office provides IT, development and technology personnel on either a contract or permanent basis. We are the largest provider of IT staffing and recruiting services in Canada. Phone: 519.885.4331
RISK FREE LEAD GENERATION
From sales opportunity development to increasing attendance for events, Virtual Causeway accelerates your sales process! With a focus on selling and marketing complex services and technology, we guarantee a consistent and reliable flow of quality leads - assuring that your pipeline is constantly full. Contact us today to learn how we can help connect you with your next customer. Call 519-886-1600 ext. 405 or email marketing@v-causeway.com for details.
BERESKIN & PARR - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Bereskin & Parr is a leading Canadian intellectual property law firm on your doorstep. Our Waterloo region office brings a wealth of experience to serve the growing high technology and manufacturing communities in Canada's Technology Triangle and surrounding areas. Bereskin & Parr's practice encompasses all areas of intellectual property from patents to trade marks and related litigation. Please contact us at 519-783-3210, Tim Sinnott (tsinnott@bereskinparr.com) for more information.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Funding for Igloo & Arius; details about Well.ca
April 23, May 8, 23, 2008
Two new fundings were disclosed in May, along with details about Well.ca's previously-announced funding:
RIM creates $150M investment fund for mobile apps
May 12, 2008
RIM, in partnership with Thomson Reuters and RBC, has created the $150 million BlackBerry Partners Fund. The fund will be managed by Toronto's JLA Ventures and RBC Venture Partners and will invest in a variety of mobile applications and services. It will not limit its investments to applications that run on the BlackBerry.
The fund is looking to make investments in companies anywhere in the world that are developing applications for "mobile commerce (payments, advertising, retailing, banking), enterprise applications, communications, social networking, location-based services (navigation and mapping), media and entertainment, and lifestyle and personal productivity applications."
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
Virtek receives acquisition offer from U.S. firm
May 13, 2008
New Hampshire-based photonics company StockerYale has made an offer to acquire Virtek for about $22 million. That's nearly 50% above the level that Virtek stock was trading a month ago and is about where the company was valued last September. StockerYale says it made the offer on May 13 and Virtek announced it three days later.
StockerYale proposes to pay Virtek shareholders 7.8 million shares of StockerYale stock (just under 20% of the company) with the balance of the price -- about $16.5 million -- to be paid in cash.
StockerYale shares trade on Nasdaq and the company has a market capitalization of about US$27 million. It has a Canadian office in Montreal. Over the last twelve months, it lost US$9.0 million on sales of US$30.5 million. StockerYale only had US$2.4 million in cash as of March 31, but it says it has a "non-binding indication of interest" from a lender to provide the funds for the acquisition.
Virtek said its board would meet during the week of Victoria Day to decide what action it would take in response to StockerYale's offer. So far, there has been no further announcement from either company.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
MKS quarterly sales jump 67%
May 6, 2008
MKS announced that it will be reporting sales of about US$21 million in the quarter ended April 30 (Q4 08) -- a 64% jump from the previous quarter and a 67% improvement from last year. It expects to report income before taxes of US$4 million, up from a loss of US$762,000 in Q3.
Part of the revenue jump was a $5 million licensing deal that the company announced in March and which was fully recognized in the quarter. Full Q4 results will be announced on Tuesday.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
Descartes sales continue at steady pace
May 29, 2008
Descartes reported earnings of US$1.1 million on sales of US$16.3 million in the quarter ended April 30 (Q1 09). Sales were up 2% from the previous quarter and -- driven by acquisitions made over the last 12 months -- up 23% from last year.
The company ended the quarter with US$46.9 million in cash, up US$2.8 million from the end of Q1. Operations provided US$3.4 million in cash in the quarter.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Arise reports $5M loss, plans to spend $16M on Waterloo site
May 15, 2008
In its final quarter before its PV cell manufacturing facility opened in April, Arise reported a loss of $5.4 million in the quarter ended March 31 (Q1 08). Accumulated deficit stands at $28.6 million.
Arise now has $27.5 million in inventory on its books after paying about $26 million for silicon wafers in March.
It finished the quarter with $6.6 million in cash, but has since raised gross proceeds of $45.1 million through a share offering that close in May (see previous digest). Arise says it will spend about $20 million of those funds on additional silicon wafers and will spend $16 million on a new silicon manufacturing facility that will be built in Waterloo.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Virtek, Sandvine repeat as best/worst performers
May 2008
MKS must be wondering if anyone reads its news releases. It announces a huge quarter and the company's stock actually falls by one cent on the day the announcement is made. So the news was sent out again the next day, this time to better results, but MKS stock was still down slightly for the month. This comes after the company's announcement of its $5 million licensing deal in March which got no response from investors for over two weeks (and when the stock did finally jump, it was fuelled by insider buying).
The Virtek acquisition proposal helped push the company's shares to the top of our list for the second straight month. Virtek stock is now up 46% over the last two months.
For the month of May:
Virtek [TSX: VRK] +23%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +12%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX +8%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +6%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +1%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +1%
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] 0%
===============================
MKS [TSX: MKX] -1%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] -3%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] -5%
RDM [TSX: RC] -9%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] -10%
Arise [TSX: APV] -11%
ATS [TSX: ATA] -11%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] -16%
It was another bad month for Sandvine shares, which finished at the bottom of the list for the fourth month in a row and the fifth time in the last six months.
RIM ended the month with a market value of $77.5 billion, adding the equivalent of an ATS plus Dalsa plus Com Dev plus Arise plus Descartes plus Sandvine to the total in May.
Companies with core operations outside the area:
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] +32%
Adobe [Nasdaq: ADBE] +18%
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] +18%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] +10%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] +9%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] +9%
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +7%
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] +4%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] +2%
===================================
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] -14%
That's two months in a row of 32% gains for ON Semiconductor.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Gary Will
gary@garywill.com
In this issue:
- Funding for Igloo & Arius; details about Well.ca
- RIM creates $150M investment fund
- Virtek receives acquisition offer from U.S. firm
- MKS quarterly sales jump 67%
- Descartes sales continue at steady pace
- Arise reports $5M loss, plans to spend $16M on Waterloo site
- STOCK REPORT: Virtek, Sandvine repeat as best/worst performers
- Miscellaneous tidbits from Google, NDI, Com Dev
--Gary Will
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
ENHANCE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
INO can deliver competitive advantage to fuel company growth. As described in this video, INO's optical recognition technology helped Optosecurity raise $20 million in financing and create a world-class team. You'll find further information on INO's optical recognition technology here. Please contact Glenn Smith in Waterloo at 519-502-1305 to explore how INO might deliver competitive advantage to your organization.
IT SEARCH AND PLACEMENT SERVICES
Procom is currently ranked as the 4th largest IT professional services firm in Canada. (Branham 300, Financial Post, April 2007). Recently awarded one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies, Procom is a proud, Canadian-owned, privately-held company. Our local KW office provides IT, development and technology personnel on either a contract or permanent basis. We are the largest provider of IT staffing and recruiting services in Canada. Phone: 519.885.4331
RISK FREE LEAD GENERATION
From sales opportunity development to increasing attendance for events, Virtual Causeway accelerates your sales process! With a focus on selling and marketing complex services and technology, we guarantee a consistent and reliable flow of quality leads - assuring that your pipeline is constantly full. Contact us today to learn how we can help connect you with your next customer. Call 519-886-1600 ext. 405 or email marketing@v-causeway.com for details.
BERESKIN & PARR - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Bereskin & Parr is a leading Canadian intellectual property law firm on your doorstep. Our Waterloo region office brings a wealth of experience to serve the growing high technology and manufacturing communities in Canada's Technology Triangle and surrounding areas. Bereskin & Parr's practice encompasses all areas of intellectual property from patents to trade marks and related litigation. Please contact us at 519-783-3210, Tim Sinnott (tsinnott@bereskinparr.com) for more information.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Funding for Igloo & Arius; details about Well.ca
April 23, May 8, 23, 2008
Two new fundings were disclosed in May, along with details about Well.ca's previously-announced funding:
- Igloo Inc. -- a spinoff from the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), which became a for-profit corporation in March -- has received $4 million from RBC Venture Partners. Joining Igloo's board is Kevin Talbot, managing director of RBC Venture Partners. Jim Balsillie is also a director. According to Igloo, its platform is now being used to support more than 550 online communities.
- Arius Software raised $570,000 from 12 investors on April 28, according to OSC reports. No details were announced by the company.
- Details about the Well.ca reported in the last digest: according to the OSC, the company raised $2 million from two common share investors in April and followed with another $425,000 from six preferred share investors on May 23. Well.ca has said that the number reported by the OSC for April is innaccurate.
RIM creates $150M investment fund for mobile apps
May 12, 2008
RIM, in partnership with Thomson Reuters and RBC, has created the $150 million BlackBerry Partners Fund. The fund will be managed by Toronto's JLA Ventures and RBC Venture Partners and will invest in a variety of mobile applications and services. It will not limit its investments to applications that run on the BlackBerry.
The fund is looking to make investments in companies anywhere in the world that are developing applications for "mobile commerce (payments, advertising, retailing, banking), enterprise applications, communications, social networking, location-based services (navigation and mapping), media and entertainment, and lifestyle and personal productivity applications."
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
Virtek receives acquisition offer from U.S. firm
May 13, 2008
New Hampshire-based photonics company StockerYale has made an offer to acquire Virtek for about $22 million. That's nearly 50% above the level that Virtek stock was trading a month ago and is about where the company was valued last September. StockerYale says it made the offer on May 13 and Virtek announced it three days later.
StockerYale proposes to pay Virtek shareholders 7.8 million shares of StockerYale stock (just under 20% of the company) with the balance of the price -- about $16.5 million -- to be paid in cash.
StockerYale shares trade on Nasdaq and the company has a market capitalization of about US$27 million. It has a Canadian office in Montreal. Over the last twelve months, it lost US$9.0 million on sales of US$30.5 million. StockerYale only had US$2.4 million in cash as of March 31, but it says it has a "non-binding indication of interest" from a lender to provide the funds for the acquisition.
Virtek said its board would meet during the week of Victoria Day to decide what action it would take in response to StockerYale's offer. So far, there has been no further announcement from either company.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
MKS quarterly sales jump 67%
May 6, 2008
MKS announced that it will be reporting sales of about US$21 million in the quarter ended April 30 (Q4 08) -- a 64% jump from the previous quarter and a 67% improvement from last year. It expects to report income before taxes of US$4 million, up from a loss of US$762,000 in Q3.
Part of the revenue jump was a $5 million licensing deal that the company announced in March and which was fully recognized in the quarter. Full Q4 results will be announced on Tuesday.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
Descartes sales continue at steady pace
May 29, 2008
Descartes reported earnings of US$1.1 million on sales of US$16.3 million in the quarter ended April 30 (Q1 09). Sales were up 2% from the previous quarter and -- driven by acquisitions made over the last 12 months -- up 23% from last year.
The company ended the quarter with US$46.9 million in cash, up US$2.8 million from the end of Q1. Operations provided US$3.4 million in cash in the quarter.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Arise reports $5M loss, plans to spend $16M on Waterloo site
May 15, 2008
In its final quarter before its PV cell manufacturing facility opened in April, Arise reported a loss of $5.4 million in the quarter ended March 31 (Q1 08). Accumulated deficit stands at $28.6 million.
Arise now has $27.5 million in inventory on its books after paying about $26 million for silicon wafers in March.
It finished the quarter with $6.6 million in cash, but has since raised gross proceeds of $45.1 million through a share offering that close in May (see previous digest). Arise says it will spend about $20 million of those funds on additional silicon wafers and will spend $16 million on a new silicon manufacturing facility that will be built in Waterloo.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Virtek, Sandvine repeat as best/worst performers
May 2008
MKS must be wondering if anyone reads its news releases. It announces a huge quarter and the company's stock actually falls by one cent on the day the announcement is made. So the news was sent out again the next day, this time to better results, but MKS stock was still down slightly for the month. This comes after the company's announcement of its $5 million licensing deal in March which got no response from investors for over two weeks (and when the stock did finally jump, it was fuelled by insider buying).
The Virtek acquisition proposal helped push the company's shares to the top of our list for the second straight month. Virtek stock is now up 46% over the last two months.
For the month of May:
Virtek [TSX: VRK] +23%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +12%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX +8%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +6%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +1%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +1%
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] 0%
===============================
MKS [TSX: MKX] -1%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] -3%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] -5%
RDM [TSX: RC] -9%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] -10%
Arise [TSX: APV] -11%
ATS [TSX: ATA] -11%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] -16%
It was another bad month for Sandvine shares, which finished at the bottom of the list for the fourth month in a row and the fifth time in the last six months.
RIM ended the month with a market value of $77.5 billion, adding the equivalent of an ATS plus Dalsa plus Com Dev plus Arise plus Descartes plus Sandvine to the total in May.
Companies with core operations outside the area:
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] +32%
Adobe [Nasdaq: ADBE] +18%
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] +18%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] +10%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] +9%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] +9%
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +7%
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] +4%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] +2%
===================================
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] -14%
That's two months in a row of 32% gains for ON Semiconductor.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
Miscellaneous Tidbits
- Roger Skubowius has left Google, three years after the company acquired Reqwireless, which Skubowius founded in 2001.
- Jamie Fraser is the new CEO of NDI. He succeeds David Crouch who announced his plans to retire from the position when NDI was acquired by Audax Group in December. Fraser had been SVP at Connecticut's Amphenol Corporation, an $8 billion, Nasdaq-listed company. He had been with Amphenol for more than 10 years.
- Com Dev completed its US$12.2 million acquisition of the passive microwave devices product line from L-3 Communications (see February digest).
posted by Gary Will at 12:47 AM
