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Technology Stocks : Spectrum Signal Processing (SSPI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: EdR who wrote (2813)	7/20/1999 4:27:00 PM
From: David Semoreson	Respond to of 4400

From todays Globe & Mail (Toronto) Spectrum cools takeover rumours Shares slip 18% as company says no third-party agreements are imminent Angela Barnes Investment Reporter Tuesday, July 20, 1999 After surging over the past two weeks, shares of Spectrum Signal Processing Inc. slipped 18 per cent yesterday after the company turned the heat down on rumours that it is about to be taken over. Spectrum confirmed yesterday that it was "exploring strategic alternatives . . . to enhance shareholder value." But the Burnaby, B.C.-based company also said it hasn't reached any agreements with a third party; furthermore, "none appears imminent, and there can be no assurance that the company will come to any agreements." Martin McConnell, Spectrum's vice-president of finance, said "we were sensitive to rumours that were percolating last week . . . of alliances of one thing or another and potential takeovers." Spectrum felt it was important to issue the release and clarify the facts, he said. Investors reacted by pushing Spectrum shares down $1.25 to $5.65 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. But that still left some of the previous week's $1.90 rise intact and most of the $4.10 advance of the past two weeks. Kevin Binnie, who follows Spectrum for Pacific International Securities Inc., suggests some of the recent run up in the stock price may be the result of confusion in the U.S. market over just which company Broadcom Corp. was buying. Broadcom of Irvine, Calif., just announced that it is buying HotHaus Technologies Inc., a Vancouver based software firm, in an estimated $414-million deal. The confusion possibly stems from the fact the founders of HotHaus are former senior Spectrum employees. "My speculation is that the rumour mill got the wires crossed on HotHaus versus Spectrum," Mr. Binnie said. But Mr. McConnell doubts that was the case, saying there are few in the market who would know that HotHaus founders were previously with Spectrum. Rather, he attributes the recent stock-price rise to recognition in the market of the value to Spectrum of a series of strategic alliances and contracts.