Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : GEAC.....Canadian best kept secret -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sans Souci who wrote (266)	3/28/1998 8:33:00 PM
From: Dale Geffrey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571

Could somebody post that Globe article; I'd like to read it. Some people here have speculated that one of Geac's acquisitions would be Corel. I hope not; others have tried to make this company work and failed. Here's the latest on Corel: Friday March 27 10:06 AM EST Canadian Software Firm Corel Plunges Deeper Into Losses By Lydia Zajc TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Corel, the little software maker that took on giant Microsoft in the office suite market, reported it had slipped much deeper into losses in the year's first quarter. Corel lost $21.1 million, or $0.36 a share, in the first quarter ended February 28 against a comparable loss for the same period a year earlier of $11.3 million, or $0.19 a share. It was the fifth consecutive quarter of losses for Corel. Even so, Chief Executive Michael Cowpland tried to put a brave face on the result. During the quarter, even though the numbers were negative, we've made substantial progress in terms of restructuring the company going forward," he told reporters on a conference call. Ottawa-based Corel's sales dropped to $45.5 million from a year-earlier $80.7 million. Cowpland said the company had cut its advertising budget in half to deal with the drop in revenue, which resulted partly from a new sales strategy of lowering office software prices. Corel hopes a cheaper price for its WordPerfect product will help it compete more effectively with Microsoft's software, Word. "We've received encouraging signs from the marketplace... and we could get a surge in volume," Cowpland said. Corel, which formerly viewed Microsoft as its rival, has made WordPerfect fully compatible with Word, executives said. Cowpland ruled out cutting any staff as a consequence of the losses and said the company was an unlikely target for a takeover. "We haven't had any approaches at all," he said. However, others are not so sure. "They will likely be having a lot of vultures coming around seeing if there's anything ... of any value and maybe getting some kind of a bid for the company," said one analyst, who declined to be identified. Corel had $18.9 million in cash at the end of the first quarter versus year-earlier $12.0 million and company executives described the cash position as "stable." Any comments? Dale

To: Sans Souci who wrote (266)	4/27/1998 2:16:00 PM
From: Dale Geffrey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571

And still another marketing piece. I like the way they're keeping our name in the public eye. They seem to be doing a lot more than usual. Monday April 27, 8:59 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Geac Publishing Systems Year 2000 Prompts Newspapers To Switch Business Applications Geac Publishing Systems Announces New Sales Of VisionShift Advertising TAMPA, Fla., April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Geac(R) Publishing Systems (GPS), a division of Geac Computers, Inc., today announced four recent sales of VisionShift(R) Advertising: The Charleston Post & Courier, The Daily Nation, The Galveston County Daily News and Creative Loafing. Prompted by year 2000 concerns, all four papers decided to move to the client/server operating environment. The Charleston Post & Courier (Charleston, SC) with a circulation of 122,717 decided to move to VisionShift Advertising as they began their preparation for the new millenium. ''We needed to upgrade our hardware for the new version of our current advertising system, and it just made sense to re- evaluate our options and move to a client/server solution,'' said Charleston Director of Information Services, Ray Ruth. Implementation is planned for mid-1998. The Daily Nation (Barbados) with a circulation of 44,000 had previously been using a custom system and was coming upon year 2000 issues. The timing was right to look for an alternative to the lengthy programming necessary. In addition to the easy to use graphical interface, The Daily Nation liked the depth of the accounts receivable functionality in VisionShift Advertising. They too are planning a mid-1998 installation.The Galveston County Daily News (Galveston, TX), a 27,000 circulation paper, purchased VisionShift Classified in addition to VisionShift Advertising. As they were in the process of installing a new front-end system, it just seemed timely to make the switch to a new advertising system as well. Finding a Windows NT solution was among Galveston's key criteria and Geac applications were the right fit. Creative Loafing (Atlanta, GA) is a chain of 8 weekly papers that had been using an in-house developed system for many years. With year 2000 program changes required, Creative Loafing began looking for a packaged solution. After examining the alternatives, they decided on the VisionShift Advertising system, the system being used by one of their sister publications, The Weekly Planet. Planned for later this year, Creative Loafing will install the system in their corporate office in Atlanta with remote access by their regional weeklies. ''The Year 2000 issue is spurring some significant changes in the modernization and productivity of newspaper business offices, which are frequently moving to systems based on the Microsoft Windows NT Server operating system and SQL Server database,'' said Donna Conner, Microsoft's Worldwide Publishing Industry Manager. ''Systems like VisionShift Advertising that take advantage of standard, desktop office productivity tools, integrate well with other newspaper systems, and provide comprehensive reporting and analysis capabilities are extremely well positioned to help newspaper managers navigate their way around this thorny issue.'' Founded in 1975, Geac Publishing Systems (formerly Collier-Jackson), is the leading supplier of business software solutions including advertising, circulation and marketing applications to the newspaper industry. The company offers a wide-range of services including data conversion, custom and interface programming and consulting. A member of the Microsoft Certified Solutions Provider Program at the Partner level, Geac Publishing Systems has designed its new generation of client/server applications leveraging its industry experience with the power of the Microsoft BackOffice and Office suites along with Microsoft Visual Basic For Applications. Their web address is publishingsystems.geac.com . Geac Computer Corporation Limited delivers and supports total computer solutions, including complete mission-critical client/server applications to various cross-industry and vertical markets worldwide. Geac product and service information is available on the World Wide Web at geac.com, or through the Internet E-mail at solutions@geac.com. Geac is a publicly traded company with its common shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (Toronto: GAC - news) and included in the TSE100. Geac and VisionShift are registered trademarks of Geac Computers, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, Visual Basic, BackOffice, and SQL Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Dale