STOCK WATCH

Ilion

Ilion's share price continued to tumble last week as a result of the distributor issuing its second profit warning in six months (PC Dealer, 20 May). The share price dropped to an all-time low over the last year to 97.5p on 22 May. On the same day, Azlan went up one point to 55p.

Investors

Four large institutional investors are selling $22.95 million of Informix stock, following a filing that was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on 15 May. But it was unclear whether the move was linked to last week's dismissal of the database supplier's auditors, Ernst & Young, to be replaced by KPMG Peat Marwick. The transaction is being undertaken on behalf of CC Investments, Proprietary Convertible Investment Group, Capital Ventures International and The Shemano Group, which will receive all net proceeds, but the deal will still be underwritten by Ernst & Young.

The stockholders acquired the Series B preferred stocks on 17 November 1997 and will issue them after the stock has been converted at a price of $4 per share. Warrants have been exercised to purchase 150,000 shares of common stock.

IBM

IBM chief executive Lou Gerstner filed a 144 Form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to sell 138,000 shares at $125 on 15 May, the day after giving analysts positive indications about future revenue growth and cost cutting measures. The comments caused IBM shares to gain four points, before closing at $126. Big Blue denied any connection between the share sell-off and Gerstner's comments. The shares in question amount to less than three per cent of the CEO's stockholding, but follow the sale of 43,376 shares valued at between $115 and $116 by three IBM insiders last month.

Misys

Misys is set to become the first UK software company to enter the FTSE 100. Misys shares rose 220p to close at #35.70 last week, which valued the company at #4 billion.

Staples

US retailer Staples' sales rose by 31 per cent to $1.52 billion from $1.15 billion in the quarter ended 2 May for the same period last year.

Its net income rose 50 per cent to #31.3 million. During this quarter, Staples opened 41 stores but closed one.

Dell

Direct manufacturer Dell exceeded analyst expectations when it achieved a 54 per cent increase to $305 million, from $198 million a year ago.

Turnover increased 52 per cent to $2.59 billion to $3.92 billion. In Europe, sales grew 67 per cent to more than $1 billion. The company claimed it had gained the number three position in the PC European market by overtaking HP.