Sdl Share Discussion Threads

[wjccghcc] 13/2/2008 19:08

RWS isn't really a competitor. They specialise in patent translation which is highly technical - SDL is more for global enterprises.

[tole] 13/2/2008 15:38

SDL "buy," target price reduced

02/12/08 - Kaupthing Bank
LONDON, February 12 (newratings.com) - Analysts at Kaupthing Bank reiterate their "buy" rating on SDL PLC (SDL-GBX). The target price has been reduced from 420p to 340p.

In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the company has announced its plans to acquire Idiom, one of its key rivals in the enterprise technology space, for around $27 million. The acquisition presents a sound consolidation opportunity to SDL and is expected to boost the company's enterprise software offerings going forward, the analysts say. The downward revision in the target price reflects the significant de-rating in the sector, Kaupthing Bank adds.

[egoi] 13/2/2008 15:16

Wouldn't they have been better to look at the profitable RWS, which has a thoroughly strong balance sheet too, if they wanted to remove a competitor?

Anyone?

[spaceparallax] 13/2/2008 11:46

Good posts.

[flyfisher] 13/2/2008 09:51

thanks for posting shuisky.

[lomax99] 13/2/2008 09:13

Good post shuisky. Old world to new world and consolidation.

It would not surprise me if SDL where not themselves consolidated by someone like Autonomy, who specialise in enterprise search/management systems and probably number most of the global companies SDL are targetting. Autonomy recently took over a company called Zantaz, who specialise in email archiving/retrieval. Autonomy combined Zantaz's software with their existing search/context technology and have been pretty successful in deriving synergies.
It strikes me that SDL's Triodos/Idiom technology could be another string to their bow, and Autonomy could easily afford them.

[lomax99] 13/2/2008 08:59

Presumably Idiom's translation management systems take SDL into the 'software as a service' field far quicker than SDL could hope to attain critical mass, it also gives SDL direct exposure to their client base with an opportunity to cross sell.

Idiom's figures do not look great, losing $5M PA. In line with the comment above why were the figures unaudited? Also whilst I would not expect them to be able to give the final picture, there is no comment on 2007 - they should have, by the time of this announcement, a good handle on 2007 revenues, if not costs. Has the loss widened in 2007? Presumably they were happy to acquire at this level because they were given guidance that the YE 2007 financial position had improved, it would be nice to know if that were the case.

[wjccghcc] 13/2/2008 08:56

Thanks shuisky. Very interesting article.

[shuisky] 13/2/2008 08:53

Tday- I must confess that my initial reaction was similar to yours. As a 'bolt on' acquisition, it certainly doesn't look like a cheap deal. However, they have taken out one of their major competitors in the translation management space, and I think its not unreasonable to expect margin improvements and synergy benefits to accrue. This article provides a pretty decent overview...

[tday] 12/2/2008 19:16

Is Idiom such a great buy?

Audited loss for 2005 of almost 6m. Loss for 2006 - still not audited (why not?) of not much less. Doesn't sound that great to me at over £13m cost, including debt.

[spaceparallax] 11/2/2008 10:12

A nice bite-sized acquisition.

[weatherman] 11/2/2008 10:05

sdl buys idiom

Idiom partners look impressive

[weatherman] 01/2/2008 19:42

SDL Tridion announces record-setting financial results in 2007

published on 29-01-2008

SDL Tridion - Revenue growth continued to accelerate from 2006 and profitability hit record levels. The SDL Tridion announcement follows one week after the trading statement of parent company SDL plc who reported total revenues and profits for the year ended 31 December 2007 are expected to be ahead of analyst expectations.

With these excellent results, SDL Tridion again confirms its position as the most profitable vendor in the enterprise class Web Content Management sector. SDL Tridion's primary revenue growth drivers in 2007 were the significant expansion in both the US and UK market as well as market share growth across Europe and APAC.

The company's focus on enabling customers to deliver consistent and persuasive customer experiences in multiple languages across multiple Web sites and channels has lead to significant global customer expansion. The substantial number of new customers in 2007 includes TomTom, Fortis ASR, NXP Semiconductors, State of Minnesota, Miami Dade, Tibco Software, Zesko, Martinair, Sonofon, Telenor, Gulf Bank, Philippine Airlines, Exact Holding, Merck KGaA, RIU Hotels & Resorts, Archant, Greater London Authority, Disneyland Resort Paris, Hanley Wood, Fedict, and Belgian National Lottery. Many existing customers extended their SDL Tridion installations.

Mark Lancaster, CEO "The strong overall performance of SDL was achieved as a result of the company making excellent progress across both the technology and services business units in the SDL Group. We are particularly encouraged by the strong contribution from the SDL Tridion business unit, acquired in May 2007. Their award winning technology for managing global web content represents a very successful key element of our Global Information Management strategy."

"SDL Tridion's continuous success in 2007 confirms the strength of our software solutions and team," said Pieter Varkevisser, CEO of Tridion. "Our position as leader in the WCM market has in 2007 again been confirmed by Forrester and Gartner analysts, and experts at InfoWorld. We are looking forward to a solid 2008, as we increase our investments in global expansion and broaden our product portfolio. We are confident that our plans for this year will continue to solidify our role as leader in WCM."

[angler] 29/1/2008 19:50

woracle:

The recent analyst update only applied to the forecast for 2007, and this followed the trading update issued by SDL on 14/1/08. Projections for 08 and 09 were not changed. Given that, once again, analysts had underestimated the strength of SDL's business, particularly the impact of the Tridon acquisition, I am expecting a significant re-rating, probably after the H2 anouncement, to reflect a strong performance expectation in 08 and 09 (and beyond).

[hectorp] 29/1/2008 14:20

Looks reasonably strong, need to test resistance around 20p higher, then we can see.

I'm more interested in a trade here.

[spaceparallax] 28/1/2008 10:26

It's certainly difficult to fathom out quite where the sp's going from here.

On the growth front, it's reasonable to assume that the US and UK economies will at least slow down; however, it's unlikely that world wide web development will slow down and hence it's conceivable that SDL's powerful offering could continue to thrive.

[woracle] 26/1/2008 15:57

Not that old. These were updated ( and upgraded ) consensus forecasts within the last month. pretax 16.75M for 2007 EPS 16.8, 18.9M for 2008 EPS 17.9, 23.03M for 2009 EPS 20.25. EPS increases are less than profits 'cause of dilution.

[lomax99] 26/1/2008 12:56

I think that these could be old forecasts, SDL was one of Shares Magazine's Plays of the Week recently and they suggested profits of £16M 2007, £21m 2008 & £26M by 2010, this compares to £12.6M 2007, £13.4M 2008 & £15.2M 2009 - the 6% and 13% increases you refer to come from this latter set of figures.

[bluesbreaker] 23/1/2008 00:17

A bug is a tiny insect.

[spaceparallax] 21/1/2008 14:43

Poster 1070!

[papapod] 21/1/2008 13:50

what is/are "bugs"?

[spaceparallax] 21/1/2008 13:27

I agree on Bugs explanation; I too shared that irritation. On the bright side however, Lancaster has proved to be a man who simply sells periodically to free up capital, irrespective of the Company's performance. The unfortunate thing is that the Market only seems to interpret Director sells one way.

[hectorp] 19/1/2008 16:40

I see bugs, its now quite a while back.

[bugs22] 18/1/2008 15:06

Hectorp - the market didnt like the CEO Mark Lancaster and the the operations director Cristina Lancaster selling 1.5m shares last Sept at 3.85 so soon after the placing and open offfer in May at 3.55.