archive

SunGard has reported that net income for the three months ended March 31st, 2005 was $90 million, a 5 percent increase over the first quarter of 2004.

Diluted net income per share grew 3 percent to $0.30. Merger costs and costs associated with the previously planned spin-off of Availability Services were $0.01 per share in the quarter. Also in the first quarter of 2005 was a one-time charge of $11.5 million related to the relocation of an availability services facility. Before merger and spin-off costs and the one-time facility charge, diluted net income per share was $0.34 for the quarter, representing an increase of 17 percent from the first quarter of last year.

Revenue for the first quarter increased 13 percent to $947 million. Internal revenue (revenue from businesses owned for at least one year and excluding revenue from Brut LLC) was up 5 percent from the same period in 2004, with the impact of favourable exchange rates contributing approximately 1 percent.

Cristobal Conde, president and chief executive officer, said, "SunGard performed solidly in the quarter and is well positioned to grow competitively. The recent announcement of the acquisition of SunGard by a consortium of seven of the world's leading private equity investment firms is a resounding endorsement of our business model, industry leadership and financial strength. The reaction from customers has been positive. We continue to be committed to improving customer satisfaction, delivering high levels of service and deepening relationships with our customers. Now and following the completion of the transaction it is business as usual at SunGard."

The acquiring consortium, which has agreed to pay $36 in cash for each SunGard share, was organized by Silver Lake Partners and includes Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., Providence Equity Partners and Texas Pacific Group.

The transaction is subject to receipt of stockholder approval and customary regulatory approvals as well as satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. SunGard filed its preliminary proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 12, 2005.

SunGard filed its Hart-Scott-Rodino notification with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice on April 15, 2005. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2005.

Availability Services’ revenue increased 10 percent to $317 million for the quarter. Internal revenue increased approximately 2.5 percent for the quarter. The impact of favourable exchange rates contributed approximately 1 percent to revenue growth in the quarter. Margins declined by approximately 570 basis points in the quarter due to the initial impact of a recently acquired business and a charge related to the relocation of an Availability Services facility.

SunGard expects growth in internal revenue in its Availability Services business to be in the low to middle single digits for the full year 2005.

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To find out more about how the Continuity Forum can help your organisation plan for and address a wide variety of Business Resilience and Continuity issues, please contact us directly HERE! or call either Russell Price or John Sharp on 020 8993 1599.

Aon Insurances' latest risk monitor report places London in the same category of risk of terrorist attack as Cities in Afganistan and Iraq.

BRITAIN is near the top of world terrorism risk ratings for a second year amid fears that Islamic extremists will try to disrupt the general election with an attack on a big city. Britain has an “elevated” risk of being hit by terrorists, while London is at “high” risk, together with Baghdad, Kabul and Jerusalem, according to a terrorism risk map published by Aon, the world’s second-largest insurance broker.

Paul Bassett, an executive director of Aon, said that events such as the Madrid train bombing in March last year and the murder of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker, by an Islamic fundamentalist in November, meant that almost half of the countries with an increased risk of terrorist attack were in Europe.

“We’re seeing increased recruiting of radical Islamists in Europe for a tour of duty in Iraq, then these people returning to their own country, feeling motivated and recruiting others,” said Mr Bassett, a former bomb disposal expert. “If they can carry out a successful attack around the election in the UK, they will.” The map assigns ratings ranging from “severe” to “low” to each country, taking into account the risk from terrorists, nationalists, separatists and other extremists. Symbols on the map include a skinhead for far-right groups and a rabbit for animal extremists. A blindfolded head marks places where kidnapping is common.

Aon has increased the terrorism risk ratings of 31 countries, including Australia, Germany, Egypt, Nigeria, Denmark and South Korea. Almost half of the countries with a higher risk rating were in Europe and 23 per cent were in Africa. “The 2005 map highlights the need for vigilance in so-called safer European countries,” Mr Bassett said.

Six countries — Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, Djibouti, Chad and Libya — that were considered safe from attacks by Islamic extremists last year are now believed to be at risk. Libya and Greenland were the world’s safest territories last year. This year the Western Sahara is among those least threatened by terrorism, with Mongolia and African nations such as Cameroon, Togo and Gabon. Australia, Poland and Estonia were at greater risk than previously because of their support for the Iraq war. Mr Bassett said: “There’s concern that al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations could take advantage of anti-Western sentiment and launch attacks in these countries.”

End (source Times and Aon)

To find out more about how the Continuity Forum can help your organisation plan for and address a wide variety of Business Resilience and Continuity issues, please contact us directly HERE! or call either Russell Price or John Sharp on 020 8993 1599.

Fuel protesters in poll disruption threat

Friday April 22, 09:08 AM

Fuel tax protesters have threatened to disrupt the General Election with direct action including refinery blockades and go-slows on major routes as forecourt prices peak.

Farmer and haulier Andrew Spence, a spokesman for the Fuel Lobby, said their campaign was set to begin on May 3, two days before polling day, if the Government did not bring down tax on fuel.

The lobby said it was prepared to recreate the week-long protests of September 2000 which caused shortages and buying panic at the pumps.

Mr Spence, from Consett, County Durham, said: "Don't rule anything out.
"The election would be stopped if we had our way. Tony Blair will not be able have enough fuel in his car to get to the polling station."

He added that a large meeting of hauliers will be held in Stirling, Scotland.

"Those boys up there want to do something now," Mr Spence said. "The hardest part will be stopping them from protesting until May 3."

The Road Haulage Association has also warned that members could be stirred into "legal" action.

It claimed anger was mounting around the country about "the increasing cost of fuel".
RHA chief executive Roger King said meetings had been held in Scotland and North Wales and attitudes among those present were "increasingly militant".

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To find out more about how the Continuity Forum can help your organisation plan for and address a wide variety of Business Resilience and Continuity issues, please contact us directly HERE! or call either Russell Price or John Sharp on 020 8993 1599.

The Civil Contingencies Act places a statutory duty on all Category 1 Responders, to 'warn, inform and advise the public about risks and emergency plans', with websites a key tool recommended for this work. The advice applies equally to material produced by third parties, which will be used by Category 1 responders when providing information to the public.

In view of the Act's requirements, and the publication of the 'Preparing for Emergencies' booklet, the Cabinet Office has produced good practice guidance and advice on using web sites to promote emergency information, which Category 1 Responders and third parties are urged to apply to their sites.

What is the Chatham House Rule?

The Chatham House Rule is used worldwide to facilitate both free speech and importantly, confidentiality at meetings.

The Continuity Forum uses the Chatham House rule at many of our meetings and particularly, our debates.  

Building links with Academia 

The Continuity Forum is keen to develop collaborative relationships with Academia Internationally to support research and development into Business Continuity issues.

We will work with all interested parties and provide essential support to initiatives geared to improve the knowledge base and professionalism of the industry.

Our extensive research library provides data ideal to support learning and development programmes and we would be delighted to work on or develop joint projects with Colleges and Universities as well as to support and encourage those individual students studying for higher degrees.

If you would like to discuss how we can work together please contact us at info@Continuityforum.org.

If you would like to work with the Continuity Forum on joint projects of mutual interest please contact us directly on +44 (0) 993 1599 or by clicking HERE! outlining your specific area of interest and we'll get straight back to you.

Exercise Atlantic Blue is due to take place 4-8 April 2005 and is designed to test simultaneous responses to internationally linked terrorist incidents, focusing on how we communicate across international borders at a strategic level.

On 17 March 2005 Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said:

"The threat from international terrorism remains real and serious, and is a worldwide concern. It is vital we make every effort to enhance and develop our resilience to this threat by working closely with our international colleagues. Exercise Atlantic Blue provides an excellent opportunity to do just this, through sharing best practice on emergency planning and response procedures."

The Metropolitan Police Service is the host police force for the UK working closely with the Home Office and other government departments and London agencies on planning and delivery. Planning has taken over two years since it was first agreed between the UK and the US. See the statement issued in July 2003 by David Blunkett - An update on counter-terrorism and security issues.

The exercise will be a command post exercise (CPX). This means a real incident control room is set up to co-ordinate responses, but will not involve live action on the ground.

Running a CPX will allow the UK to focus entirely on strategic-level communication issues, rather than on the management of live play at an operational level which is regularly rehearsed around the country.

The Canada Exercise Tripleplay will also run as a CPX, and, as with the UK will involve players from the emergency services, local and regional governments, and the health services.

The US TOPOFF 3 will run as a live play exercise, this means it will incorporate strategic level play, similar to that played UK and Canada, as well as play at an operational level. Exercise TOPOFF3 will involve more than 10,000 participants representing more than 200 federal, state, local, tribal, private sector and international agencies and organisations, as well as volunteer groups.

International objectives
The international objectives of the exercise are:

• Incident Management
To test the full range of existing procedures for domestic incident management of a terrorist event and improve, through practice, top officials’ capabilities in affected countries to respond in partnership.

• Public Information
To practice the joint response of the UK, US, and Canadian governments to media handling and public information following a linked terrorist incident occurring in all three countries.

• Intelligence/Investigation
To test the flow of operational time-critical intelligence among US, UK, and Canadian agencies in response to a linked terrorist incident occurring in all three countries.

• Evaluation
To identify lessons learned and promote best practices.

FAQs
How was it decided to hold the exercise, and how long has it been planned for?

• Exercise Atlantic Blue is part of our on-going national exercise programme. The exercise has been planned for over 2 years and was first announced parliament in July 2003.

Why isn’t Exercise Atlantic Blue going to be a live exercise?

• A Command Post Exercise (CPX) is still a live exercise, but on a strategic level rather than operational one. In this case we believe a CPX is the best way for us to focus entirely on strategic-level communication issues with the US and Canada, rather than on the management of live play at an operational level, which is already regularly rehearsed around the UK.

What scenarios are being tested in the UK?

• We do not give details out of any exercise scenario in advance for obvious reasons. The exercise is designed to test players’ responses and to identify existing strengths and weaknesses. This would not be an effective test if players knew the scenario in advance.

Does this mean there is a greater risk to the UK?

• No. We are holding this exercise as part of sensible contingency planning with the aim of developing our joint preparedness and resilience in the event of a terrorist incident. It in no way reflects a change in the level of threat to the UK.

How many people are taking part in the exercise? What organisations do they represent?

• Around 2500 people are involved in the planning and delivery of Exercise Atlantic Blue. These include representatives from the Home Office and other Government Departments, the Metropolitan Police Service and a wide variety of London agencies including emergency services, utilities and local government.

What happens if a terrorist incident occurs during the exercise?

• In the event of a major incident of any sort a decision would be taken to halt the exercise. There will be no impact on the level of policing or security within London during the week of the exercise.

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US software company Sungard Data has been bought by a consortium of investment funds for $11.3bn (£6bn).

The deal is the largest private buyout of a technology firm, and also believed to be the second-largest buyout of any type of company in business history.

The broad-based consortium includes Silver Lake Partners, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group and Texas Pacific.

Sungard provides computer services, particularly to finance firms, and has annual sales of $3bn.

The Pennsylvania-based company has more than 20,000 customers in about 50 countries.

"This transaction offers great value to our stockholders and represents an endorsement of our business model," said Sungard president Cristobal Conde.

"Our customers and employees should know that it is business as usual, now and following the completion of the transaction."

Mr Conde added that Sungard will retain its senior management team and current headquarters.

The consortium is paying $36 a share for Sungard. Its other members include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Providence Equity.

The deal is being financed through a combination of equity contributed by each partner, and additional loans provided by JP Morgan, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

While the Sungard board has recommended acceptance of the offer, it must still be approved by stockholders and regulators.

The sale is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

"Our consortium partners are extremely pleased with this investment," said Silver Lake Partners co-founder Glenn Hutchins.

The annoucements made no reference to the future plans for the group, although some industry analysts are reported as believing that this record deal increases the chance of a further sell off of the Availability Services Disvision to offset increased costs.

At this time no spokesman was available for comment from the European operations of SunGard, but it appears as though mergers and acquisition are to remain a hot topic for some time to come.

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22nd March 2005

SunGard (NYSE:SDS) A global leader in the provision of information availability services, has announced that it is in discussions with an investment consortium concerning a possible sale.

SunGard’s Board of Directors has authorized Credit Suisse First Boston and the law firm of Shearman & Sterling to commence discussions with the consortium. The consortium comprises Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Carlyle Group, Bain Capital, Texas Pacific Group, Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

These negotiations will be undertaken while the company continues to progress the planned spin-off of the company's Availability Services business, which was announced last Autumn.
The offer for the whole Business could total more than $10 billion and negotiations have apparently been underway for the last few months.

SunGard, which is based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, provides software and information availability services, as well as BC consulting to many of the worlds top financial companies. Representatives from the consortium were expected to have a conference call on Tuesday to complete details of its offer and could reach a deal by Thursday, executives suggested.

The consortium has tentatively agreed to pay about $35 a share for SunGard, they said. That represents about a 40 percent premium to the closing price of SunGard's shares on Friday, which was $24.95. The shares surged $6.12, or 24.5 percent, in heavy trading on Monday, to close at $31.07.

The talks were originally reported by The New York Post on Monday.

The potential deal comes just six months after SunGard announced its intention to split off its disaster data recovery business into a publicly traded company. SunGard's decision to split its software and business processing operation from the disaster data recovery unit, called Availability Services, made the deal under discussion possible, the executives said. The software unit accounts for about 60 percent of the company's total revenue, or $1.8 billion in 2003. It had operating income of $324 million that year.

SunGard, which employs more than 10,000 people, has long been viewed by many as a ripe takeover target but had been considered less attractive because its two businesses appealed to different organisations. One effect of the investment group approach may be to increase the likelihood of a company break up as the consortium seeks to maximise the return for the 40% premium placed on the share price.

Glenn Greene, an analyst at ThinkEquity has been reported as saying that “it was likely that the company's announcement of its plans to spin off its disaster recovery business had piqued the interest of outside investors and that this is what probably led the private equity firms to put together the deal," adding that "The fact that these are very credible investors in the deal suggests it's fairly far along."

Over the past year, he said, the company has focused on its plans for growth. The data recovery unit competes directly with International Business Machines (IBM) and Hewlett Packard (HP). The software unit, the bigger of the two, faces a more fragmented market. "SunGard plays in a lot of different markets," Greene said. "But they have the largest product breadth."

SunGard has announced that it does not intend to comment on any specific discussions or any potential transaction unless and until it enters into a definitive agreement with respect to a transaction. There can be no assurance that these discussions will result in any transaction for a purchase of the company. However the New York Times has reported that a deal could be close and expects news shortly, perhaps by Easter.

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Feedback on the Forum and its work

Below we have listed comments we have recieved about us and our work from a wide range of organisations and fellow professionals who have already benefited from working with the Continuity Forum.

The Continuity Forum provides an excellent focal point for business continuity professionals and for advancement of BCM in the wider business community.

A configuration issue between Windows 2000 and XP caused the machines to crash on Monday 22 November and it was not until Friday of that week that all systems were fully functioning. November's crash happened in part because of the power of remote upgrade tools which allow technicians to modify tens of thousands of machines using simple routines at a single terminal.

It is believed that an EDS operator allowed Windows XP to be installed on 40,000 computers instead of the 30 in the trial. Procedures have been strengthened to ensure that a single operator cannot perform a remote upgrade accidentally, EDS said.

Issues with a new supply chain system have cost furniture retailer MFI £46m in lost sales, write-offs, additional costs and extra IT work. The company admitted the problems with the multi-million pound supply chain modernisation project in a profits warning earlier this year that led to then COO Gordon MacDonald and finance director Martin Clifford-King being sacked.

Major Series of events and workshops launched by the Continuity Forum

We are delighted to announce our Autumn & Winter series of events and workshops aimed at supporting and promoting professional BCM to Business and helping those involved gain the skills needed to effectively create Continuity within your organisation

The Continuity Forum, in association with a number of the UK’s leading Companies, is pleased to announce our High Risk Industries Special event and an associated Forum Development Group (FDG).

This event is scheduled for 15th September 2004 at the British Airways EPIC Centre at Heathrow and will focus on issues affecting the Business Continuity Management, Security and other ‘Special Considerations’ within organisations working in or affected by ‘High Risk’ Industries Environments. if you are interested in attending this event please contact the Forum directly at events@continuityforum.org

This will be followed by our Annual Telecoms & Resilience event, this year at the BT Tower, on the 23rd September, and a new ‘Special Event’ aimed at boosting the planning for BCM in the Charities sector.

In October, we’ll be adding two more Special Events covering Basell II and Sarbanes Oxley, where we’ll be exploring compliance and BCM under the Legislative and Regulatory framework needed. This will be followed with another new special event and focussing on the needs of the Public Sector prior to the Royal assent of the Civil Contingencies Bill expected in November. This event is designed to coincide with the further development of the CCB and the increasingly high profile of a wide variety of UK BCM and security issues.

In December we'll be running our Business and Terrorism Annual Event again and sharing the results of this years research into this delicate and important topic. You'll be able to meet experts from a wide variety of backgrounds and discuss the issues as they affect your business or organisation. It is intended that this event will support government initiatives in raising the awareness and information available to promote good corporate and civil resilience to a range of threats.

All these events are all part of an exciting Autumn and Winter programme of events, research and workshops for the Continuity Sector with over 40 different events and workshops provided by the Continuity Forum across the country, covering public promotion of Business Continuity Management, specialist events, professional development workshops and numerous private group meetings. We are also extending our research still further and have 4 major programmes completing in the next few months, covering the developing BC sector and its related issues, which our members will be able to receive free of charge.

Remember that while events are free to access, we will, of course, give preference in our delegate allocation to Forum Members for all these events.

Just look at the value you could be getting with your membership of the Forum. If you were to book with commercial event organisers these events alone would cost you nearly £15,000 per person!

Whatever your level of experience, you and your organisation simply cannot get better value or support.

So what are you waiting for? Join us today!

For more details or to join the Continuity Forum please contact us on either 020 8993 1599 or by email via events@continuityforum.org

These events are part of our 'Public Series' and are run to promote BCM generally to organisations of all types.

Major Public Events

Security and the City ... Securing Safety and Continuity

High Risk Industries ... BCM at the frontiers

Telecoms and Resilience ... Communicating in a crisis

Civil Contingencies Bill, EP, BCM and the Public Sector ...
Public Sector Planning and Preparation

Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley ... creating a Strategic framework for Compliance

Business Continuity and Terrorism ... The unlikely Counter Terrorist - You?

The following CPD workshops are geared to support the professional development of those involved in planning and managing an Organisations BCM Programme. Spaces are limited at these events as they are held in a workshop format. New events will be added based on feedback received from those attending our CPD series.

*** CPD Event Series ***

CPD - Introducing & Developing a BCM culture within organisation
CPD - Introducing Crisis Management
CPD - Plan Initiation and BIA Development
CPD - Communications and Resilience
CPD - BC for SME’s
CPD - Emergency Planning and BC Workshop
CPD - Managing ‘Risk’
CPD - Media Skills
CPD - Security and BCM
CPD - an Introduction to BCM and IT
CPD - Reputational Risk and BCM
The following are part of our Regional programme of events and are part of our 'Public Series' run to promote BCM generally to organisations of all types with a 'regional' focus. New events are constantly being added so do check back regularly for updates!

Regional Events Series

Croydon Continuity
West Midlands Forum
Eastern Counties Forum
North West Forum
North East Forum
Scottish Development Agency & CF Event
Greater London Boroughs LA Programme
South East Forum
South West Forum
In addition, we have created Forum Development Groups covering the main industry issues, which are designed to focus on specific topics of interest to the BC planner and Business in general. These FDG's are run on either a 'standalone' basis or as part of a larger event. Each group has an Independent 'chair' nominated by the group who can direct Forum resources proactively to undertake research or develop events.

Forum Development Groups

High Risk Industries Group
Insurance and RM Group
Regulation and Standards Group
Telecoms and Resilience Group
Emergency Planning & BCM Group
Security Forum Group
Financial Services & City Continuity Group
Charities Group
Public Sector Group

If you have any questions please contact Sara Mckenna or Russell Price at the Continuity Forum directly on 020 8993 1599 or events@continuityforum.org