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

Interims will be released on the 9th of August 2007 :

http://www.leadcom-is.com/IntegratedSolutions//1/38/755.aspx


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Broker Forecasts :

2007 PTP 11.51m
2007 EPS 5.88p

Current year forecast PER of times 11.9 @70.5p

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2008 PTP 15.1m
2008 EPS 7.81p

Forward forecast PER of times 9 @70.5p

Earlier post out of date :

Ammended broker forecasts after last update and upgrades :


Panmure Gordon :

2007 EPS 6.4p

Current year PER of times 11.01

2008 EPS of 9.4p

Foreward forecast PER of times 7.5

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Blue Oar forecast :

2007 EPS 5.9p

2008 EPS 9.4p

Papal, you're confusing me with all these broker notes updates ! The future, is it good or is it not so good :-).

Cynic, you misundstood, although I see why you should think otherwise.

pth

Darradev, as it looks now, very good imv ;)

Papal, not convinced there is further mileage in the short term. Have had a decent run and decided to take some profits for now. Will watch for a low spot again in the coming months.

Good luck to current and future holders.

Well done Darradev, I am happy to keep on going.


Whilst the BSNL saga continues and appears to be settling for about half of the initial planned amount, Reliance now is coming on stream with an even larger expansion than BSNL planned.


http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu9&subLeft=2&autono=291528&tab=r

RCom plans big bang investment

BS Reporter / Mumbai July 18, 2007

To hive off BPO arm, eyes SEZ to 'unlock value'.

Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani today announced investments of Rs 20,000 crore for the next one year, aimed at catapulting the mobile services operator to one of the top five global telecom companies.

The proposed investment the largest ever by a telecom services operator in the country will be for network expansion through 23,000 new mobile towers as well as for the launch of direct-to-home and Wi-max services.

In this initiative, Reliance Communications plans to cover 23,000 towns or every single habitation in the country with a population of 1,000 or more.

While addressing the shareholders of Reliance Communications at the companys annual general meeting here today, Ambani also announced important steps to unlock shareholder wealth in the company.

It will hive off its business process outsourcing (BPO) division into a separate company and will set up an 18-acre special economic zone (SEZ) at the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Centre on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Maximisation of shareholder value is the key mantra for us, Ambani told the Reliance Communications shareholders. The companys stock fell 2.31 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, while the 30-share Sensex fell a little over 0.01 per cent.

The BPO division of Reliance Communications employs 7,800 people across various locations, providing multi-lingual support to verticals like telecom, banking financial services and insurance, utilities and entertainment.

The proposed SEZ at the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, for which the company had earlier received the governments approvals, will focus on IT and IT-enabled services.

Reliance Communications is the third-largest mobile services operator in the country, after state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Sunil Mittal-controlled Bharti Airtel Ltd.

But Ambani has nurtured ambitions to grow the business fast ever since he got it in a settlement with his older brother, Mukesh, over two years ago.

He had earlier tried hard to acquire Hutch Essar, which would have made him the leading telecom operator in the country. He, however, lost the race to Vodafone.

Bharti going to splash the cash too ;)


http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=291531&chkFlg=

Bharti to seal network deal with Ericsson

IT'S WIN SOME, LOSE SOME FOR SWEDISH MAJOR

Bs Reporters / Mumbai/New Delhi July 18, 2007



Bharti Airtel, the countrys second-largest telecom services company, is close to inking a deal with Ericsson for managing and expanding its network.

The deal, which is expected to be valued between $1 billion and $2 billion, will be announced in a few days.

The deal with Ericsson closely follows the telecom operator coming closer to winning a scaled down version of the controversial Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) mega-GSM order.

Ericsson, which was the lowest bidder for the 45.5 million lines order, is expected to be called for price renegotiation by the BSNL board but for a much smaller order now.

When asked about the deal, Akhil Gupta, joint managing director of Bharti Airtel, merely said no comment. Ericsson executives also declined to comment.

The deal is believed to be spread over three years and will involve implementing and managing the GSM majors network in 15 circles in the country.

A few weeks ago, Bharti Airtel had awarded a $900 million (Rs 3,690 crore) network expansion contract to global communications services provider Nokia Siemens Networks.

Bharti is not new to Ericsson. In June 2005, the Swedish company had signed a $250 million deal for managing capacity in rural India for Bharti Airtel networks.

Yep, 2 Billion dollar deal for Ericsson from Bharti :


http://www.bloomberg.com:80/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aZLapz5IU1UI&refer=india

Ericsson Wins $2 Billion Order From India's Bharti Airtel

By Ashok Bhattacharjee and Shailendra Bhatnagar

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Ericsson AB, the world's largest maker of wireless networks, said it won an order worth $2 billion from Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest wireless service provider.

Ericsson, which manages Bharti's networks in 15 of the 23 zones that make up India's telecommunications market, will provide equipment that runs on the Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, technology. The two-year contract is Ericsson's largest so far, the company said in a statement in New Delhi.

``This contract is an important part of realizing Bharti's vision of a converged network and of expanding coverage in rural India,'' Mats Granryd, managing director at Ericsson India, said in the statement.

Overseas wireless network makers such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent are competing for network orders in India, where phone companies are investing to accommodate new subscribers. The South Asian country, one of the fastest-growing mobile-phone markets in the world, added 5.39 million subscribers on the GSM platform in June.

Ericsson, based in Stockholm, won a $1 billion, three-year contract from Bharti in August 2006 to manage the design, development and deployment of its network, enabling expansion in rural India.

Bharti, based in New Delhi, on July 3 gave a $900 million order to Nokia Siemens Networks to expand its wireless networks in the remaining eight zones.

Ericsson and Nokia Siemens were also short-listed by state- run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., India's largest telephone company, to supply mobile-phone equipment valued at as much as $9.5 billion.

India's Communications Minister A. Raja said on June 1 he wants Bharat Sanchar to renegotiate the contract with Ericsson and lower the price to below $100 per line from $107.

Bharat Sanchar said July 13 new bids for the supply may be an option.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ashok Bhattacharjee in New Delhi at ashokb@bloomberg.net ; Shailendra Bhatnagar in Mumbai at sbhatnagar3@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: July 18, 2007 05:22 EDT

Yes looks good PP, I imagine some of that $2b will filter down to LEAD over the next few weeks/months.
2517

Looks like BSNL is now decided, and also, the growth in India remains massive for the next 3 to 5 years.


http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/19/stories/2007071956231300.htm


BSNL to place orders for 23 million GSM lines


New Delhi: The Central Government on Wednesday curtailed the GSM tender of BSNL to half at 23 million lines and the telecom PSU would place the order to successful bidders -- Ericsson and Nokia-Siemens -- in a day or two.

Shortly after it got the direction from Telecom Minister A Raja, who sought changes in the original contract valued at about Rs 20,000 crore, BSNL said the Advance Purchase Order would be placed in a day or two.

When contacted BSNL CMD A K Sinha told PTI: The Advance Purchase Order will be placed either today or tomorrow to the two successful bidders -- Ericsson and Nokia.

The APO would be for both 2G and 3G services, he said, adding that the order for 3G would be placed only after the policy on services and spectrum availability is put in place.

For Ericsson this comes as a major success, as only on Wednesday it bagged a $ 2 billion contract from the countrys largest private mobile player Bharti Airtel. PTI


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http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134719-c,industrynews/article.html

Rapid Growth Seen for India's Mobile Market

Revenue from cellular services is expected to jump by more than 18 percent each year for the next five years.

John Ribeiro, IDG News Service
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 8:00 AM PDT

New research has confirmed that India's mobile phone market is set for a period of fast growth, with revenue from cellular services expected to jump by more than 18 percent each year for the next five years.

Most of the growth will come from rural areas, where only 2 percent of the population have access to mobile phones today, said Madhusudan Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner Inc., which conducted the research. Service providers have already started to focus on rural markets, with aggressive rates and handsets priced at under $25, he said.

Cellular service revenue in India will increase at a compound annual rate of 18.4 percent between this year and 2011, to reach US$25.6 billion, Gartner estimated. Cellular revenue last year was $8.9 billion.

As call rates fall from their current level of 2.6 cents per minute to rates comparable to fixed lines, which are about 0.9 cents per minute, a broad swathe of additional users will start using mobile phones, Gupta said. "The fixed-line infrastructure in India is not that good, which is giving enough of space for mobile wireless to move in," he said.

Revenue from data will outpace that of voice services and contribute to about one fifth of revenue in 2011, more than double its share last year, although most of that growth will come from urban markets, Gartner said.

As they expand into rural areas, operators will see their average revenue per user (ARPU) fall to $59.50 per year by 2011, from $82.1 last year. Successful operators will be those that make up for the falling ARPU through economies of scale, Gupta said. Operators are likely to collaborate by sharing infrastructure and outsourcing their network management to equipment vendors, and possibly system integrators, he added.

For example, Bharti Airtel Ltd., a large Indian service provider, said Wednesday it had awarded a contract worth $2 billion over two-years to Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, to expand its network in rural areas and provide capacity management.

The service providers should not be short of funds for expansion. Vodafone Group PLC's acquisition in May of a controlling interest in the Indian operator Hutchison Essar Ltd., for $10.9 billion, has increased the valuation of all Indian service providers, and is helping them to attract private equity and other investments, Gupta said.

The rural demand will come from businesses expanding into these areas, as well as from local businesses. Some individuals will own mobile phones, although the predominant model is likely to be a communally-owned handset, a concept already tried in some areas, Gupta said.

India added 15.5 million mobile subscribers in the first quarter of this year, taking the total to 165.1 million, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Gartner expects 58 percent of the rural population and 95 percent of the urban population to be covered by mobile networks by 2011. That year, the total number of mobile connections in India will have increased to more than 462 million, according to Gartner. India's total population at that time will be close to 1.2 billion, according to some estimates.

Just added more, am now overweight, bought 4000 at 69p showing as a sell. Looking good for a challenge on top of bull channel, I expect 74p+ next week

I am also overweight, with this co being my largest % holding, topped up couple days ago also @69p, think 80p challenge on horizon...

Some weakness atm, let's hope it's short lived.
2517

May be due to Ericson's figure's being slightly disappointing.
2517

Sudden sp increase there, perhaps good news on it's way, or will it be short lived?
2517

Latest BSNL news for those interested, and a very juicy 75m line new tender indeed :

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/07/24/stories/2007072450480400.htm

BSNL to float fresh tender for 75 m mobile lines

Raja meets employees union to defuse strike move

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi, July 23 In a bid to keep up its expansion plans intact, the Communications & IT Minister, Mr A. Raja, has instructed Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to float a fresh tender for 75 million cellular lines by the end of the year.

The state-owned telecom major is also making a contingency plan to meet the immediate crunch in capacity including giving additional orders to existing vendors Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia and Nortel, in the event BSNL and Ericsson cannot arrive at a decision on the price for the truncated 23 million line contract over the next week.

3G services

This is aimed at tiding over the immediate capacity crunch being faced by the telecom major. Senior officials in the Department of Telecom said that BSNL has also been allowed to procure core equipment for 3G mobile services even before the policy is announced to keep it at par with the private operators. They said the radio part of 3G services equipment will be procured after the policy is finalised as it depends on the spectrum.

DoT officials said that Mr Raja has assured the employees union that these measures would take care of the PSUs interest. In a meeting held on Monday between the two sides, Mr Raja is understood to have told the BSNL unions Joint Forum not to go ahead with their plans of an indefinite strike given that 36.3 million cellular lines would be available to BSNL from the new tender, which will meet the companys requirement for 15 to 18 months.

The union had earlier said that they want BSNL to place order for 45.5 million lines as was initially planned or they would go on an indefinite strike.


Labour Ministry appeal

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour has asked the union not to go ahead with the proposed strike. In a note sent to the employees Joint Forum, the Office of the Regional Labour Commissioner (Central) said that it would hold conciliatory meetings between the union and BSNL management. The union is requested not to resort to direct action till the pendency of conciliation, said the letter from Ministry of Labour. However, the union is yet to respond to this.

DoT officials also pointed out that the strike call given by the BSNL employees could be termed as illegal as the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 stipulate that workers can go on strike only on issues connected with the terms of employment or conditions of labour. They said that higher Government authorities, including the Prime Ministers Office, have been briefed about the developments.

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070724/asp/business/story_8097943.asp

BSNL union hardens stand

JAYATI GHOSE

New Delhi, July 23: The BSNL employees union today met telecom minister A. Raja to debate the pruned down telecom equipment deal.

The state-owned PSU placed an order for 23 million GSM lines to the lowest bidder Swedish vendor Ericsson.

Union members want BSNL to place the purchase order for the entire 45.5 million GSM lines as envisaged in the original tender. The forum has also strongly objected to the BSNL boards decision of not purchasing 3G equipment now. It will do so only after the announcement of the 3G policy by the government.

This tantamounts to denying BSNL of its much-needed technical edge to compete with private companies, said V.A.N. Namboodri, convenor, joint forum, BSNL union. He added that instead of reducing the order, BSNL should increase the number of GSM lines in the order, as provisioned in the tender.

Namboodri said since the meeting with Raja was not conclusive, the employees would go on an indefinite strike. However, a final decision will be taken after the union members meet on July 25, he added. The BSNL union had gone on a day-long strike on July 11 to protest the delay in placing of the order.

On July 18, BSNL decided to buy 23 million GSM lines, half of the original 45.5 million GSM tender, from bidders Ericsson and Nokia. Moreover, the PSU had restricted the order to 2G technology in the first phase.

The management is optimistic about finding a simple solution for the entire complicated deal. Both the BSNL union and the management have the company's welfare in mind and we expect to arrive at a suitable conclusion for the telecom equipment deal, said S.D. Saxena, director finance of BSNL.

Once Ericsson agrees with the finer points of the deal, we expect equipment to start coming in the next four to five months, added Saxena. Ericsson officials said they had received the advanced purchase order (APO) for 2G equipment and would start studying it shortly. Ericsson has two weeks to pledge bank guarantee with the public sector firm, a mark of accepting the APO.

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http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200707200337DOWJONESDJONLINE000360_FORTUNE5.htm

Ericsson CEO: Hopes To Soon See Closure Of India BSNL Deal

July 20, 2007: 03:37 AM EST

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Telefon AB LM Ericsson (ERIC) Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg Friday said he hoped to soon see the completion of a deal with India's third-largest mobile operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, despite recent delays.

BSNL was due to award Ericsson around 60% of a $4.5 billion contract last year, but this was delayed following legal intervention by rival Motorola Inc. ( MOT). The contract, which will also benefit Nokia Corp (NOK) and Siemens AG (SI) - through its Nokia Siemens Network joint-venture -, was delayed further after India's telecommunications minister said the bid price was too high

Comment from Zak Mir over at sharecrazy.com on the 19th July.


Zak Mir Re: Leadcom (LEAD) a leader ? [Re: PapalPower]
#396390 - 19/07/07 10:54 AM

We have seen a great bounce off the bottom of the 2006 price channel at 67p today, one that should start the process of an eventual 2006 resistance line projection target to 95p - the last 2006 resistance zone.

Consensus Broker Forecasts as at 29th July :


2007 PTP 11.43m
2007 EPS 6.35p
2007 DIV 1.54p


2008 PTP 16.46m
2008 EPS 9.30p
2008 DIV 2.35p


(2007 Interims will be 9th August)