18th October 2007 : Leadcom voted "AIM International Company of the Year for 2007"




Main Web Site : http://www.leadcom-is.com/

Investor Relations Email : investorsinfo@leadcom-is.com

Thanks PP, going further in depth and with the inclusion of further contracts in time this is an interesting play, as we observed with CSR a good order book is not cut and dry (i did get a few of CSR though for a crackign price). With regards competition i was wondering whether or not say 2-4 years down the line you view this as possible take over by the big boys i do like this company very much. 150p a share = 118.93m if my maths is right.

Interesting a string of small buys coming through.

L2 up and now 3 v 1 @58/60


Critch, I would imagine Leadcom doing some acquisitions first, perhaps in the USA and in the VAR aspects.

Small tick up, nice to see plenty of interest today.

Got tipped during Friday by Moneyweek, you can catch the article on a certain BB (AFN).

.

Moneyweek being http://www.moneyweek.com/

According to the web site the Q3 trading update is this Wednesday, the 4th of October.

Solid enough and all to plan, just got to wait a little more for those tasty major opportunities in India to start coming in :)


Leadcom Trading Update for Q3 2006

Leadcom Trading Update for Q3 2006

October 4, 2006 - Leadcom Integrated Solutions Ltd. ('Leadcom' or 'the Company' , AIM: LEAD), a leading international provider of innovative telecommunication solutions, is pleased to provide the following trading update for the three months ended 30 September 2006.

The Company continues to experience the growth trends of the first six months of the year. Turnover for Q3 2006 is expected to be approximately US$35 million, compared to US$24 million in Q3 2005, and US$32 million in Q2 2006.
This establishes a total turnover of approximately US$97 million in the first 9 months of 2006, similar to the level of turnover for the 2005 full year.

Normalized profits before tax ("normalized PBT") margins for Q3 2006 are
expected to improve slightly compared to the normalized PBT margin of 10.6% recorded in H1 2006.

During Q3 2006, the Company was awarded a good volume of contracts, in the Caribbean Islands, Brazil, Venezuela, Gabon, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, West Africa and Bulgaria. Those specifically announced during the quarter comprised of a US$15 million contract in the Caribbean and subsequent awards in the EMEA and the Americas regions totalling US$22 million. Leadcom is in the process of negotiation with potential customers in both new and existing
countries, and expects new and follow-up orders from its existing regions of operations.

Leadcom continues to build its market presence and competencies in India. We are currently reviewing several major opportunities in the Indian market, and are under discussions with potential partners and customers. These negotiations are aimed at ensuring the optimal outcome for all parties, as we are building our long-term cooperation. We will announce any outcome when this is known.

The totals of the order book and frame agreements have grown during Q3 2006, and the Pipeline of opportunities has increased significantly. Most of the revenues from the order book and frame agreements will be recognized in 2007.
Consequently, Leadcom expects to meet market expectations for 2006 as a whole, and believes that a solid foundation is being built for a continuation into 2007 of the growth trends experienced to date.

From HB's Broker Round Up: Altium .... says buy Leadcom (105p target)

Latest update from http://www.armshare.com (and note the forecast EPS figures EXCLUDE any India work, that is all potential big upside to the 2007 figure) :

To compare with others, LEADCOM is on a sub 10 times pr PER rating, and is already paying full tax rate (no complications of allowing for increases in tax each year as it goes forward, and the surprise of lower than expect EPS due to tax increases).

That sub 10 times pr PER rating also takes into account NOTHING for India, and that 10 times rating could fall to be a times 5 or times 3 rating should the MAJOR contracts be MAJOR and be confirmed :


"..................The interim results to June 2006 showed sales of $61.8 million (2005: $46.8 million), pre-tax profit of $5.7 million (2005: $4.3 million) and EPS of 4.0c (2005: 5.0c) - the tax rate was 30% (2005: 7.1%). The company reported that the gross margin was 28.5% (2005: 27.6%); the board expects 2006 to show 40% growth over 2005.

A September update reported contract wins via vendor partners in Brazil, Venezuela and the Caribbean with a total value of over $10 million, part of which will be recognised in 2006, with the majority adding to Leadcom's already significant order book for 2007.

The October update re Q3 to September 2006 reported that sales for the quarter were c$35 million (2005: $24 million) and for the 9 months were $97 million (2005: $71 million); the adjusted profit margin for the quarter is expected to improve slightly over the margin of 10.6% recorded in H1 2006; the totals of the order book and frame agreements have grown during the quarter, and the order pipeline has increased significantly - most of the revenues from the order book and frame agreements will be recognized in 2007; the board anticipates meeting market expectations for the full year, and believes that a solid foundation is being built for a continuation into 2007 of the growth trends experienced to date.
Research Standing
We said "Analyis is more easily practiced on operators nearer home." Despite this Little Englander stance, this company's performance commands attention.

The company broker's note dated 14th August projects EPS of 4.4p for 2006 (based on 30% tax charge vs 17% for 2005) and 6.4p for 2007 representing P/Es of 14.0 and 9.6 respectively based on the share price of 61.5p at 4th October. "

Its taken a long time, 6 months longer than first thought, but now we are near to knowing the winners (and not long after that how much will be passed on to Leadcom in terms of contracts all being well)



http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1056974


BSNLs GSM tender: All 5 bidders in last round

Nivedita Mookerji

Thursday, October 05, 2006 22:44 IST


MUMBAI: Telecom PSU Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has completed the technical evaluation of bids for its mega GSM (global system for mobile communications) tender, it is learnt.

According to top sources in BSNL, all five bids that had been submitted in June, will be opened for the financial round. In effect, all bids have cleared the technical evaluation test.

Recently, the buzz was that most telecom vendors had failed to make it in the technical evaluation and that BSNL had sought a series of clarifications from them on the GSM bids.

Within a couple of days, financial bids will be opened, it is understood. At that point, one will know who the two winners are from the list of five - Motorola, Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson and ZTE.

As per the BSNL tender conditions, two bidders will be selected for providing 45.5 million GSM lines to BSNL.

Although 18 companies had shown interest in the project and had bought the documents, only five submitted the bids in June for BSNL's $4.8-billion tender.

The tender document states that 60% of the contract would go to the lowest bidder and the remaining 40% to the second-lowest.

In all, BSNL is planning to add 60-million GSM lines, out of which 15 million have already been awarded to the ITI-Alcatel joint venture.

There are talks of Motorola sourcing some of the equipment for the BSNL tender from Chinese vendor Huawei, if Motorola wins the bid.

Recently, Huawei was at the centre of a controversy for failing to supply equipment, in a venture with Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL), to BSNL on time for its CDMA project.

However, the government decided against blacklisting Huawei from participating in future projects of BSNL and MTNL.
One of the clauses in BSNL's GSM tender specifies that at least a third of the equipment bid for must be manufactured in India. This is being seen as communications minister Dayanidhi Maran's objective to develop India as a manufacturing hub in IT and telecom.

Recently, US-headquartered Motorola announced plans to set up a manufacturing plant near Chennai. Nokia also has a manufacturing plant near Chennai. Among other bidders, Ericsson has a manufacturing facility in India, while Siemens and ZTE have announced their plans too. The BSNL tender is expected to cater to both 2G and 3G services of BSNL.

Communications minister Dayanidhi Maran has set a target of 250 million phone users by the end of 2007 and 500 million by 2010. And BSNL's mega tender is geared to that end.

MM buy in there as well earlier, and now we get ALTI off of 62p offer. Looking better now, might be a decent rise coming up sometime this month or next on news.

L2 presently 5 v 1 @61/63

Interesting news, we will have to see what pans out. Ericsson and Nokia/Siemens getting the work split between them, could be a very very nice results for Leadcom ??

http://www.easybourse.com/Website/dynamic/News.php?NewsID=69044〈=fra&NewsRubrique=2

Ericsson Lowest BSNL Order Bidder; Evaluation Begins

Monday October 9th, 2006 / 13h17

STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Swedish telecommunications-equipment-maker Telefon AB LM Ericsson (ERIC) has qualified in the technical evaluation and emerged as the lowest bidder for a contract from Indian telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., an Ericsson spokeswoman said Monday.
"Now a complete evaluation of our offer will be done by the customer," said Ericsson spokeswoman Aase Lindskog.
Ericsson expects this evaluation to take some weeks, Lindskog said.
Lindskog said BSNL aims to have two suppliers with 60% of the order going to one company and 40% to the other.
Local media in India Monday reported Nokia Corp. (NOK), Ericsson and Siemens AG (SI) had all passed the technical evaluation for the INR200 billion ($4.4 billion) tender while China's ZTE Corp. (000063.SZ) and Motorola Inc. (MOT) hadn't.
-By Magnus Hansson, Dow Jones Newswires; +46 8 545 130 91; magnus.hansson@dowjones.com

Ericsson and Nokia get the BSNL tender, possibly the best combination for maximum contract awards in the months ahead for Leadcom.......


http://www.domain-b.com/industry/telecom/20061009_ericsson.html

The High Court has refused Motorola's request on a "stay" for the tender :) and has simply asked BSNL to provide their reasoning for disqualifying Motorola/ZTE. Lets hope they put "Frist and anti-WTO legislation in the US" as one reason ;) LOL

Typcial, the US government enacts anti-WTO legislation to protect US companies in the States, and then US companies complain of unfair competion outside the US...... LOL :)



http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2132863.cms

Ericsson lowest bidder in $5bn BSNL tender

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2006 04:07:04 AM]

European telecom major Ericsson emerged as the lowest bidder in the BSNL tender for adding 45.5m GSM lines. It quoted a price of about $107 per line. Nokia emerged as the second lowest bidder by quoting $177 per line, while Siemens lost the race.

US major Motorola, meanwhile, approached the Delhi High Court on Monday, seeking a stay on the grounds that it was not informed of its disqualification. The court declined to grant a stay, but told BSNL that further processing of the tender would be subject to its orders.

This round of tendering has been controversial as the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) had earlier expressed apprehension that the tender may not be finalised in a very transparent manner. In a letter to DoT about two weeks ago, it said that the tender specifications had been repeatedly changed to protect the interest of some foreign firms.

As per the tender condition, Ericsson will supply 60% of the 45.5m lines while Nokia will provide the remaining. Nokia will have to match the price quoted by Ericsson.

The value of Ericssons order, if awarded, would be $2.92bn. At a price of $107 per line, Nokias order would be valued at $1.95bn. The tender envisages that 30% of the total capacity would be 3G-enabled. Similarly, the ITI-Alcatel combine, for which 18m lines have been reserved, will also have to match Ericssons bid price, which puts the deal size at $1.92bn.

For Ericsson, this is the second billion-dollar contract in India in recent months in August, Bharti had awarded a $1-bn network expansion contract to the company. Meanwhile, in response to Motorolas petition, the Delhi High Court directed BSNL to file its reply within two weeks and asked to produce the records of the case in court.

In a statement Motorola said: As recently as a week ago, Motorola provided compliance undertakings on various requirements desired by BSNL. At no point in time was Motorola communicated that its bid was being dropped due to technical reasons. On Saturday, Motorola learnt from informal sources that it had not been invited for opening of the price bid.

Motorola is surprised and disappointed by the BSNL decision not to invite it for price bid opening for BSNLs tender for GSM and 3G equipment. According to industry sources, Chinese vendor ZTE, which was also disqualified, is exploring the option of taking BSNL to an international court over the issue. When contacted, ZTE officials refused to comment.

BSNL officials countered these charges and said that the tender process was completely transparent. ZTE and Motorola were disqualified as they had failed to meet the stringent tender conditions, they added.

Looks like Motorola failed the Capabilities test on Oct 7th, but are trying to to stay in........ bloody US companies, why can they not accept this, perhaps the Indians should put in place a law banning US money transfers if they are to be used in mobile comms tenders ;)

The HC refused to stay the tender, so Nov 2nd is now a key date, if BSNL can prove to the courts of law in India that Motorola failed the tests and were duly informed of their failure, they should be kicked out fairly soon. The HC's refusal to stay the tender points to they will not get involved, as Ericsson and Nokia as due winnners of the tender, and with it not stayed, can now start their final negotiatins before final signing of the contracts around mid Nov I imagine.


http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=33215

US-based Motorola today challenged in the Delhi High Court, its disqualification from the bidding process for supply of equipment to BSNL, which has rolled out a mega mobile expansion plan, but the Court declined to stay the tender process.

Fixing November 2 as next date of hearing on Motorola's petition, a division Bench of the High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Vijendra Jain and Justice Kailash Gambhir issued notices to the Centre and BSNL.

Motorola was disqualified on technical grounds on October 7 and not allowed to participate in financial bids, where Swedish MNC Ericsson emerged as the lowest bidder this morning for the 45.5 million line GSM contract of BSNL at an estimated cost of over Rs 20,000 crore.

Tech funds poised for a strong rally, that would be good :)


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2403989,00.html

..........................The technology sector is full of uncertainties, but one constant remains: just when investors start to give up on the sector, it starts to deliver on its promises. Today feels very much like the late 1980s.

Technology was unloved, and only the most committed technology enthusiasts were daring to invest their own money into the sector. History has proved these can be the most rewarding times to invest. ........................

PP: Any views on timescales until we know the extent of LEAD's involvement in India contracts??

silvermede, I would not expect news until late Nov or early Dec at the earliest........but thats just IMO.

October 2006 Presentation for Q3 update : 2.3MB PDF file on the link :


http://www.leadcom-is.com/siteImages/IR_Oct_06_Q3_06_[1].pdf