Market Briefs - Nov 3-7, 2003

Floating Betting Exchange CES Software is planning to raise £5 million by floating on AIM at the end of the month in order to boost marketing, research, development, and aquistions. Managed by CryptoLogic directors, CES licenses its betting exchange platform and takes a small commission for each of the almost 700,000 transactions per minute that it claims to make. CES' clients include BETandWin.com and Betmart. The company expects to be valued at £20 million and says its listing should be completed by the end of the month.

Chimera Aprroved for Forward Split Chimera Technology Corp. (Pink Sheets: CMRD) announced that it has been approved by the NASD for a forward split, and it will now begin trading under a new symbol, Pink Sheets: CNOC. It also has a new CUSIP number: 169348 30 7. Chimera's president, Ken Chua, says the stock split will help the company improve trading liquidity for new acquisitions and partners.

GTECH Will Acquire VLT Company GTECH Holdings Corp. (GTK) has entered into an agreement to acquire Spielo Manufacturing Inc., a private company that provides video lottery terminals and related products and services, for $150 million in cash. For the next 18 months following the closing, Spielo's shareholders could receive an earn-out of up to $35 million if Spielo fulfills its goals for video lottery terminal installations in New York. Assuming the deal is approved by regulatory and licensing authorities, the acquisition should be completed in the second quarter of GTECH's fiscal 2005.

Reports Released NDS Group plc (NNDS), a supplier of open end-to-end digitial pay TV solutions, headlines its financial report for the first quarter with the words "Strong Growth, New Contract Wins, and Strategic Acquisition." Net income for the company this quarter was £8 million, an increase of 24 percent over last year's first quarter mark. The company's revenue, however, was down 17 percent to £52 million. The company attributes the loss of revenue to weakness in the U.S. dollar compared to sterling, as well as a lower volume of cars being shipped. During the quarter NDS won contracts with the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, China Cable Network, and Sky Brasil.