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BOSS INDEX BUZZ April, 2008 Click
on image above to View the Latest Boss Index
Following three straight poor months, The BOSS INDEX suffered another loss in March, but a far smaller loss than the previous months, losing only .8% to a new low of $14.089. Individual results were mixed, with 5 stocks up and 4 others down. Unfortunately the declining issues were far greater in magnitude than the winners, pulling the general index down. The gainers were Vignette, up 10.4%, Autonomy, up 6.3%, and Open Text, up 4.9%. The losers for the month were Interwoven, down a whopping 14.8%, Fabasoft, down 8.9%, followed by Iron Mountain, down 7.9%. The March results, while mixed, followed a very weak December through February. The BOSS INDEX decline was surprising again in light of the advance in the Dow in March, up 3.2%, and the NASDAQ, up 4.6%. While it is clear that the fear of a recession and the decline in consumer confidence in the US has created quite a negative atmosphere, it is still surprising that key ECM and BPM issues have not done better. The fact is, these technologies are tools businesses can use to improve their performance in a declining economy. The lack of industry leadership and the failure of key companies to differentiate offerings and provide a clear message to the business community is a key factor in the continued lack of performance. As THE BUZZ accurately forecast months ago, all issues continue to revolve around the economy. The US leads the poor economic forecasts, but it seems Europe is following. The only robust numbers are found in Asia, with India still booming. The total picture paints a very pessimistic scenario for the ECM community in 2008. The real dichotomy is, however, that it is the ECM and BPM solutions that should be implemented NOW to save money and improve efficiencies in a weak economy. This downturn should be a used as a tool for growth, not the opposite. Beating a dead horse, it is the industry’s lack of vision and leadership that is most telling at this time. In venture news, hit by a steep decline in the public markets and continuing uncertainty in the private equity markets, venture-backed exits dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2008. A report today from VentureSource, a unit of VentureWire publisher Dow Jones & Co., shows the merger and acquisition market saw 80 deals valued at $7.78 billion in the first quarter of 2008, a drop from 110 deals valued at $15.69 billion in the previous quarter and 105 deals at $10.2 billion in the first quarter of 2007. It's the lowest number of M&A deals since the first quarter of 2003, when 77 deals took place in a year that was this decade's worst for the market. Initial public offerings unsurprisingly came to a virtual halt in the first quarter, with only six venture-backed companies managing to go public, raising just $391.9 million. That's down from $1.89 billion raised in 25 offerings in the fourth quarter of 2007 and $1.20 billion in 13 offerings in the first quarter of 2007.
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