I doubt that there is any validity to the takeover rumor. I doubt Octel has sufficient funds to takeover Centigram. It would have to be a hostile takeover, and Centigram has adequate "poison pill" provisions in place to prevent that from happening. Centigram is very solid financially with nearly $50M in cash reserves (not bad for a $100M/year company).
Octel, at this point is probably consumed with trying to get their new platform released (several years late). While their numbers are good so far, I suspect that they will have an increasingly difficult time making money on their outdated and limited capacity architecture.
Centigram, meanwhile, has sucessfully rolled out the Series 6 VoiceMemo platform which is fully fault tolerant, and uses modern, industry standard H/W and S/W.
The "True Voice" text-to-speech product is certainly innovative, and is pretty much the industry standard for TTS, but it is not the primary revenue source for Centigram.
I guess my only question is, can Centigram, with a superior product line, and healthy cash reserves, get sufficient market momentum to make the big money. If that happens, then expect the price of the stock to appreciate significantly. Meanwhile, all of us who own CGRM can do little else but sit and wait (while watching other stocks skyrocket).
Another point of interest, Centigram recently announced intentions to purchase VoiceTel. VoiceTel is the McDonalds of Voice Messaging service providers. With 250+ franchises in several countries. I expect that this will significantly increase the value of Centigram as a company. |
