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[News] Met@box shareholder meetingANN.lu
Posted on 26-Jul-2000 15:31 GMT by Christian Kemp7 comments
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A German-language article provides some insight into Met@box's first shareholder meeting. At a shareholder meeting, they were criticized for providing a business report that wasn't understandable and contained not enough details. In the first hald of 2000, Met@box registered a loss of one Million Deutschmark. The revenue growth in 1999 and 2000 is apparently mainly caused by the purchase of Amstrad, who are now owned 100% by Met@box. Other complaints were issued because Met@box announced two large volume orders, but didn't give many details as to which large company initiated that deal. A second public offering of two million shares at the London stock exchange was also announced, but Stefan Domeyer didn't mention any dates. I hope my quick German-English translation/summary with no dictionary at hand is understandable. I'm not sure if I always used the right technical expressions.
Met@box shareholder meeting : Comment 1 of 7ANN.lu
Posted by Spudley on 25-Jul-2000 22:00 GMT
Well, I had no idea they had bought Amstrad. That's another tech company (like one we all know) that was brought to it's knees by poor management.
They had some nice products (the very first TV+video combo unit in the UK), but I wonder what is left to salvage from the name now. Mind you, I imagine people have been asking the same of Amiga, and we know there's progress there...
I look forward to seeing what Met@Box / Amstrad can come up with.... :-)
Met@box shareholder meeting : Comment 2 of 7ANN.lu
Posted by John Block on 25-Jul-2000 22:00 GMT
RE: Amstrad
This would most likly be something like Amstrad set top box interests, not
the whole thing!
Amstrad are high profile and this would have been huge news, at least in the
UK!
Met@box shareholder meeting : Comment 3 of 7ANN.lu
Posted by Chris Green on 25-Jul-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (John Block):
I think this must be some kind of typo or misunderstanding - I really can't see Alan Sugar selling off either the whole of Amstrad, let alone its most profitable part - that of its satellite receiver/set-top-box division.
Chris
Met@box shareholder meeting : Comment 4 of 7ANN.lu
Posted by PaulT on 25-Jul-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 3 (Chris Green):
re: What has Amstrad been doing, I looked on their Web site for financial info and got the following (edited for non-pertinent items:
====================
1987 Alan Sugar appointed Chairman of the Board at Betacom.
Amstrad launches Dancall dual band mobile phone (World phone).
Amstrad sells Dancall Telecom to German telecoms manufacturer Bosch Telecom for c£96m.
Amstrad's consumer electronics and satellite business is sold to Betacom.
Amstrad PLC is de-listed from the stock exchange and each shareholder receives loan notes, shares in Viglen Technology PLC (a newly listed company), shares in Betacom PLC and a letter of entitlement to the potential net proceeds arising from two court cases.
Betacom PLC changes its name to Amstrad PLC (Nov.)
1998
Amstrad announces an agreement with Cable & Wireless Communications to sell Cable & Wireless branded telecom products into the retail market.
Amstrad commences supply of multiple products to BSkyB to facilitate digital interactive services.
1999
Amstrad DRX100 (Digital Satellite Receiver) awarded What Satellite TV award for "Best Sky Receiver"
Amstrad sells Betacom, Answercall and Cable & Wireless branded telecommunications business to Alba PLC for £4M in cash.
2000
Amstrad launch the e-m@iler, a personal communication centre incorporating fully featured telephone with full email capabilities.
Amserve, a subsidiary of Amstrad, is established to manage the retail sales and distribution of the e-m@iler, deliver advertising into consumers' homes and generate email revenue from the e-m@iler.
Amstrad announces that Dixons Group plc has taken a 20% stake in its wholly owned subsidiary, Amserve Ltd, in a £15 million deal.
=====================
So Mr. Sugar is not averse to starting up ventures, selling them off handily, or selling out to another company and them renameing the lot as Amstrad again. Typical corporate hijinks. No mention of Met@box though, so unless the 1999 bit with Alba PLC includes Met@box somehow I dunno what the article is talking about!
PaulT reply here, it's more fun.
Met@box shareholder meeting : Comment 5 of 7ANN.lu
Posted by John Block on 25-Jul-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (PaulT):
Betacom were owned as a division / sister company of Amstrad, I believe that Alba is in a similar position.
Met@box shareholder meeting : Comment 6 of 7ANN.lu
Posted by John Millington on 26-Jul-2000 22:00 GMT
Has Met@box ever released an Amiga-related product?
Met@box shareholder meeting : Comment 7 of 7ANN.lu
Posted by Martin Baute on 27-Jul-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 6 (John Millington):
No. The JoeCard seems to be on hold. I have seen one of their
set-top boxes in action, they sure look like being pretty
usefull. The first release was reviewed in German c´t magazine
and was judged to be rather good for a first generation. However
they did not (yet?) release a more sophisticated follow-up.
The whole Information Appliances stuff doesn´t really hit the
street here in Germany. Internet is still expensive as hell
(compared to e.g. the US), making stuff like set-top boxes seem
like a bad idea to many people. Can you spell "lack of marketing"?
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