Technology
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Unisys Corp. would love to finish 2013 with flat revenue over 2012.
Well, that's going to be a tough slog after the Blue Bell information technology services company reported a 13 percent decline in revenues for the first quarter.
Revenue fell to $810 million from $928 million for the first three months of 2012.
Equally concerning for Unisys investors should be that the company lost $33.9 million, or 77 cents per share, after reporting a net income of $13.4 million, or 30 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2012.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Bentley Systems Inc., an Exton software developer focused on roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects, said revenues increased 5 percent to $550 million in 2012 from $523 million in 2011.
Chief executive Greg Bentley -- who described Bentley Systems as a “no drama company” on a conference call -- said the Middle East and Africa were its fastest-growing regions last year.
“We continue to be a motivated number-two” competitor to Autodesk Inc.’s Architecture, Engineering & Construction software business, he said.
Based on recent software subscription trends, Greg Bentley forecast the company could produce 7 percent organic revenue growth in 2013.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Say goodbye to one of the 17 companies that made the Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies list in 2012.
Transcend United Technologies L.L.C., a Wayne information technology firm, was acquired last week by AGC Networks Inc., a U.S. unit of an Indian conglomerate.
The Inc. 500 list ranks privately held companies by their revenue growth over a three-year period. Transcend United was ranked No. 254 on last year’s list, with revenue growth of 1,406 percent.
The company is a systems integrator focused on unified communications and data centers that traces its origins to a Broomall software business founded in the early ’80s known as Fastech Inc. Transcend United was formed from a November 2009 roll-up of four IT companies, including Fastech.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Venture capital funds do not last forever, and Cross Atlantic Capital Partners has said it will wind down a fund started in 1999.
The Radnor firm, which has more than $500 million under management, said Friday it will liquidate its remaining portfolio holdings. Cross Atlantic said the decision comes after several "successful exits, including three IPOs."
Firms generally are not eager to tout the beginning of the end for a fund. But in this case, the Cross Atlantic Technology Fund L.P. owns 668,572 shares of Rubicon Technology Inc., a publicly traded maker of products used in LEDs and other optical equipment.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
First Round Capital, one of the nation's most active venture capital investors, has been picked by the City of Philadelphia to manage its $6 million seed fund.
The West Philadelphia-based First Round Capital intends to invest the capital in Philadelphia start-ups over the next two to three years. The average size of investment will be about $500,000, according to First Round founder Josh Kopelman.
At that amount, the Startup PHL Seed Fund would invest in 12 companies from the information technology sector.
The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. and First Round will each supply $3 million to capitalize the fund, which city officials hope will encourage more startups to stay in Philadelphia, rather than leave for New York or California which have greater concentrations of investment.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Center City social gaming developer Ryzing L.L.C. has been acquired by a California game developer called RockYou Inc.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
A statement released by one of Ryzing's investors indicated that Ryzing's team, headed by Manu Gambhir, will join RockYou, which intends to maintain and grow the Philadelphia office.
Wayne Kimmel, a partner in the Artists & Instigators venture fund, said Ryzing currently has 10 full-time equivalent employees, including six in Philadelphia. Kimmel will join the board of directors of RockYou, the company behind the Zoo World line of games on Facebook.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Somebody opened the deal window.
Philadelphia-area companies are buyers, sellers and prey in separate transactions announced Tuesday.
First up, Penn Virginia Resource Partners L.P. said it will buy pipelines that serve Marcellus shale natural gas producers in northeastern Pennsylvania from Chief E&D Holdings L.P. for $1 billion. Radnor-based Penn Virginia plans to finance the deal through a combination of equity and debt.
Next, TE Connectivity Ltd. agreed to sell two businesses. The Gores Group will pay $380 million to buy TE's Touch Solutions business, and unit of KGP Logistics will pay $23.5 million for the TE Professional Services business. With headquarters in Berwyn, TE had $14 billion in sales last year.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Almac Group, the Northern Ireland-based provider of services to the pharmaceutical industry, will spend $10 million expanding a commercial packaging operation in Audubon, Pa.
The privately held company, which moved its U.S. headquarters to Souderton in 2011, said it had been bulk manufacturing and packaging U.S. products from its location in the United Kingdom.
"With the addition of the Audubon facility, we will now be able to offer these packaging services local to the U.S. marketplace, providing cost saving and mitigating supply risks," said David Downey, Almac's vice president for commercial operations, in a statement.
Plans call for the new 100,000-square-foot operation in Montgomery County to open in the fall.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
LiftDNA Inc., a 29-month-old online advertising technology firm in King of Prussia, has been purchased by a OpenX Technologies Inc., of Los Angeles.
Terms of the transaction between both privately held companies were not disclosed.
Launched in September 2009, LiftDNA helps Web-based publishers maximize revenue from their online advertising inventory -- the display advertising opportunities that have not be sold by a direct sales force.
LiftDNA was started by Kingchih Fan and Vadim Telyatnikov, who was one of the first dozen employees of New Hope-based myYearbook.com, a social-media site focused on teenagers.
In an interview, Telyatnikov said the idea for what would become LiftDNA emerged from his challenges at myYearbook.com in trying to monetize the inventory of unsold ad space. “I built a yield management system out of necessity,” he said.
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
Look for shares of InterDigital to fall sharply at the opening of the U.S. stock market Tuesday.
The King of Prussia wireless technology company ended a six-month strategic review by choosing to remain independent, having not received any bids for the entire company. InterDigital undertook the review, hiring investment bankers in July, following a flurry of patent-driven deals involving Google, Apple and other big tech firms.
Speculation that InterDigital's extensive portfolio of 19,500 patents would attract a rich bid had dragged its shares above $75 per share last August. Shares closed Monday at $44.45.
DuPont Co. reported flat earnings for Q4 with $373 million, or 40 cents per share. However, for the full year, the Wilmington chemical company said that it had record earnings of $3.5 billion, or $3.68 per share, for 2011, compared with $3.50 billion, or $3.28 per share, for 2010.
Mike Armstrong blogs about Philadelphia corporations and business-related topics. Contact him at 215-854-2980.
Reach Mike at marmstrong@phillynews.com.
