Thom Calandra's StockWatch
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European tech companies emerge
By Thom Calandra, FTMarketWatch.com 10:39:00 AM BST Feb 8, 2000
LONDON (FTMW) -- Several European companies are beginning to
stand out as next-generation leaders in the world of Internet
technologies and the innards, or gadgets and circuitry, that go with them.
The companies – from fiber-optic technologies and knowledge-based software to mobile-phone circuit board makers and electronic software developers – are winning the attention of cynical fund managers, many of whom have been burned by fledgling Internet stocks this year.In London this week, more than 400 European and U.S.fund managers and venture capitalists – from Merrill Lynch-owned Mercury Asset Management of Britain to BancBoston Capital – browsed a technology investment conference for new ideas. Even eBay’s Meg Whitman, at the Robertson Stephens show to present her company’s [EBAY] own story, sat through several European presentations.
The demand for new ideas comes at a turbulent time for technology companies of all stripes and nationalities. “It was surprising to see so many people there. Many of these fund managers have been out of touch with these new companies,” Robertson Stephen’s Derek Brown told me. “Last year, the fund managers were just riding a wave of enthusiasm for dot-coms, but they really hadn’t gotten to know these companies.”
Brown, Robertson Stephens’ European research director, pointed to Web.de and Intershop as two new companies that are starting to turn heads. Intershop Communications [DE: 622700], a German and U.S. developer of electronic commerce software, holds the largest market capitalization of any company trading on Germany’s Neuer Markt.Intershop’s shares, trading only 30 percent off their March high, have become a benchmark for European Internet stocks. The company, whose software partners include SAP of Germany and Sun Microsystems of California, will report its quarterly numbers Wednesday afternoon.Follow the numbers “I think you’ll see a lot of interest after the numbers,” Brown said. The market for electronic-commerce software applications across Europe could grow to $4.7 billion in three years from $340 million last year, the research firm IDC predicts. Intershop is close to turning a profit after losing 97 euros (90 cents) a share last year.
Other companies to keep an eye on include what Brown called “Europe’s only leading quoted portal,” Web.de of Germany [DE:529650]. “We have pure digital margins,” CEO Matthias Greve told about a hundred fund managers. Web.de, which has refused to become an Internet service provider because of the damage that would do to its 80 percent-plus operating margins, operates 25 German Web sites and the FreeMail e-mail service. The money-losing company, whose stock is ailing, claims it is the only free e-mail service in Europe that offers secure, encrypted mail to its users. See related stories and data.
Another maker of electronic commerce software and web-hosting services, Integra of Paris, also raised eyebrows this week in London. Several fund managers were said to have received Integra CEO Philippe Guglielmetti’s presentation positively. The company’s Neuer Markt shares have been battered of late, in part because investors have dropped web-hosting companies from their portfolios like cold fish. Integra has been under pressure to reduce mounting losses and to make purchases that will accelerate profits and enable the French company to expand across Europe.
On the hardware front, AT&S, an Austrian maker of tiny circuit boards for mobile phone companies, is turning a profit and has some bulk. The company could do sales of 330 million euros in its next fiscal year. The company’s Neuer Markt-traded shares have tripled since a July 1999 listing. (See related story.) Other looming winners in Europe include Autonomy Corp. [AUTN], a maker of content management systems whose shares trade on Nasdaq. Brown, the analyst, points to Autonomy’s proprietary algorithm that analyzes text for concepts. The profitable British company’s recently split shares are outperforming most U.S. and European software-related stocks this year.
“I think most of these companies will create a buzz this year, and I think fund managers will work harder to understand the businesses these companies are in, now that the hysteria over Internet stocks is calming down,” Brown said Wednesday. Technology investors, the value of their holdings shrinking this spring and summer, await the buzz.
Thom Calandra is editor-in-chief of FTMarketWatch.com and CBS MarketWatch.com.
|
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European tech companies emerge
By Thom Calandra, FTMarketWatch.com 10:39:00 AM BST Feb 8, 2000
LONDON (FTMW) -- Several European companies are beginning to
stand out as next-generation leaders in the world of Internet
technologies and the innards, or gadgets and circuitry, that go with them.
The companies – from fiber-optic technologies and knowledge-based software to mobile-phone circuit board makers and electronic software developers – are winning the attention of cynical fund managers, many of whom have been burned by fledgling Internet stocks this year.In London this week, more than 400 European and U.S.fund managers and venture capitalists – from Merrill Lynch-owned Mercury Asset Management of Britain to BancBoston Capital – browsed a technology investment conference for new ideas. Even eBay’s Meg Whitman, at the Robertson Stephens show to present her company’s [EBAY] own story, sat through several European presentations.
The demand for new ideas comes at a turbulent time for technology companies of all stripes and nationalities. “It was surprising to see so many people there. Many of these fund managers have been out of touch with these new companies,” Robertson Stephen’s Derek Brown told me. “Last year, the fund managers were just riding a wave of enthusiasm for dot-coms, but they really hadn’t gotten to know these companies.”
Brown, Robertson Stephens’ European research director, pointed to Web.de and Intershop as two new companies that are starting to turn heads. Intershop Communications [DE: 622700], a German and U.S. developer of electronic commerce software, holds the largest market capitalization of any company trading on Germany’s Neuer Markt.Intershop’s shares, trading only 30 percent off their March high, have become a benchmark for European Internet stocks. The company, whose software partners include SAP of Germany and Sun Microsystems of California, will report its quarterly numbers Wednesday afternoon.Follow the numbers “I think you’ll see a lot of interest after the numbers,” Brown said. The market for electronic-commerce software applications across Europe could grow to $4.7 billion in three years from $340 million last year, the research firm IDC predicts. Intershop is close to turning a profit after losing 97 euros (90 cents) a share last year.
Other companies to keep an eye on include what Brown called “Europe’s only leading quoted portal,” Web.de of Germany [DE:529650]. “We have pure digital margins,” CEO Matthias Greve told about a hundred fund managers. Web.de, which has refused to become an Internet service provider because of the damage that would do to its 80 percent-plus operating margins, operates 25 German Web sites and the FreeMail e-mail service. The money-losing company, whose stock is ailing, claims it is the only free e-mail service in Europe that offers secure, encrypted mail to its users. See related stories and data.
Another maker of electronic commerce software and web-hosting services, Integra of Paris, also raised eyebrows this week in London. Several fund managers were said to have received Integra CEO Philippe Guglielmetti’s presentation positively. The company’s Neuer Markt shares have been battered of late, in part because investors have dropped web-hosting companies from their portfolios like cold fish. Integra has been under pressure to reduce mounting losses and to make purchases that will accelerate profits and enable the French company to expand across Europe.
On the hardware front, AT&S, an Austrian maker of tiny circuit boards for mobile phone companies, is turning a profit and has some bulk. The company could do sales of 330 million euros in its next fiscal year. The company’s Neuer Markt-traded shares have tripled since a July 1999 listing. (See related story.) Other looming winners in Europe include Autonomy Corp. [AUTN], a maker of content management systems whose shares trade on Nasdaq. Brown, the analyst, points to Autonomy’s proprietary algorithm that analyzes text for concepts. The profitable British company’s recently split shares are outperforming most U.S. and European software-related stocks this year.
“I think most of these companies will create a buzz this year, and I think fund managers will work harder to understand the businesses these companies are in, now that the hysteria over Internet stocks is calming down,” Brown said Wednesday. Technology investors, the value of their holdings shrinking this spring and summer, await the buzz.
Thom Calandra is editor-in-chief of FTMarketWatch.com and CBS MarketWatch.com.
