21 Oct 14. BAE Systems has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Perimeter Internetworking Corp., which trades as SilverSky, a commercial cyber service provider, for $232.5m (approximately £144.4m[1]) on a cash free and debt free basis. Ian King, Chief Executive, BAE Systems, said: “The acquisition of SilverSky enhances our strategy to grow BAE Systems’ Applied Intelligence commercial cyber security business. SilverSky has an established sales force, a complementary suite of scalable products and a large installed customer base, providing a proven route to commercial markets in the US and other countries for our combined capabilities. “SilverSky’s cloud-based email and network security solutions, its highly skilled resource in marketing and engineering, plus an experienced management team are an ideal fit for Applied Intelligence. Together, the enlarged business will offer corporate clients a suite of products and services to protect critical information and networks and detect cyber threats and financial crime. The enlarged business has outstanding growth opportunities.” SilverSky is a leading independent cloud-based managed security services provider operating in the fast-growing cyber security market providing services including email protection, network security and managed applications. Its customer base includes approximately 5,500 customers in the financial services, retail, healthcare, energy, critical infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. SilverSky is largely focussed on the US market with a growing business in Asia and Europe. The business currently employs around 400 people with its headquarters in the Greater New York Area and principal operations in the US and the Philippines. SilverSky is expected to generate sales for the 12 months ended 31 December 2014 of approximately $75m (£46.6m1). The proposed acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings in the third year following closing with post tax returns expected to exceed BAE Systems’ cost of capital in the fourth year following closing. The acquisition will be funded from BAE Systems’ existing cash resources. The transaction is conditional upon receiving certain regulatory approvals and is expected to close before the end of 2014. (1] Based on exchange rate of £1.00 = $1.61
20 Oct 14. IBM shares tumble as profits and sales fall. Shares in IBM tumbled in early trading in New York after profits were almost wiped out and revenues fell in the third quarter, in a blow to the technology behemoth’s largest shareholder Warren Buffett. The shares were down 7.6 per cent at $169.13 after the company reported its sales dropped 4 per cent to $22.4bn in the three months to September 30. The sales fall marked a ninth straight quarter of declines as weaker demand from emerging market economies exacerbates the challenge IBM already faces from the growth of cloud computing. IBM took a $4.3bn charge related to the sale of its unprofitable chip business to GlobalFoundries, which is owned by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, in the latest step by chief executive Ginni Rometty to sharpen IBM’s focus on software. Net income slumped to $18m from $4bn in the year-earlier quarter. Ms Rometty, an IBM veteran who has led the company for two years, said: “We are disappointed in our performance. We saw a marked slowdown in September in client buying behaviour, and our results also point to the unprecedented pace of change in our industry.” (Source: FT.com)
21 Oct 14. GKN Interim Management Statement. GKN plc, the global engineering business that serves the aerospace, automotive and land systems markets, issued the following Interim Management Statement covering the period since 1 July 2014.
Market Overview
Demand in the Group’s principal markets has been broadly consistent with our expectations at the time of our half year results. The commercial aerospace market was robust and global light vehicle production was up 2%. Agricultural equipment demand fell