RE: Anyone have thoughts on impending purchase of JBA by GEAC?

I have been following the JBA share price recently and a number of financial
BBS and the feeling is that the offer will not be accepted.  There are also
rumuors that a couple of other companies are interested in a higher price.

I personally hope that this offer is rejected (I for one have not returned
my acceptance note) but would accept an offer at about GBP3.50, which is a
reasonable price.

I have worked for JBA in the past both as a permanent employee and as a
contractor and now make my living providing independent support and bespoke
programming to JBA sites.    I feel that taking development away from the UK
will be a bad thing as seen by the  horrendous problems with the Style
product when development was taken to Sri Lanka.

--
Fred Mitchell
Concise Consulting Ltd.
Newcastle upon Tyne, England

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-jbausers-l@midrange.com
> [mailto:owner-jbausers-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of OleBlighty
> Sent: 18 August 1999 00:40
> To: JBAUSERS-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: Anyone have thoughts on impending purchase of JBA by GEAC?
>
>
> GEAC made the formal offer the week before last.  As far as I am aware it
> was at 250p and it will be approved.  For me personally, that was
> fine as I
> bought shares at 89p.
>
> JBA has already been "cleaning house".  10% of the development
> staff in the
> UK were cut loose 6 weeks ago.  Out here in California, JBA just
> cut approx.
> 20% of it's staff across all departments.  Then they immediately started
> hiring technical staff as replacements.  The upper management has been
> changing in a very regular basis (3-6 months).  But generally it
> looks like
> business as usual (whether that is good or bad is a completely different
> matter).
>
> Who the hell knows what GEAC will do.  But I bet we don't hear
> any plans in
> the near future.  I would hope they are committed to the support
> of existing
> customers and products, and hopefully speed up the release of the new
> version.  Only time will tell but I am betting that things in JBA (sales,
> shareprices, support) will get better...forever the eternal optimist.
>
> I hope they do not bring the development to North America.  That
> would be a
> mistake in my opinion.  Of course it would be great for American companies
> but what about the rest of the world.  How many people in America know the
> intricacies of Pan-European trade, multi-currency and accounting
> laws.  You
> say the product has been coded in a vacuum.  I know from personal
> experience
> (I was JBA's Financials Product Development Manager) that is just
> not true.
> Just because they do not put something in the product doesn't mean they
> didn't listen, it just means they perceived other requests as a priority.
> Not every company can get exactly what the require in the
> standard product,
> it would just be to big a cumbersome.  As you say, the BIG guys
> requests are
> listened to much more, isn't that just a fact of life.  They spend more
> money, they have more "clout".
>
> Anyway, just my own personal thought and opinions.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mark.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Randy Smith <Randy_Smith@omron.com>
> To: <JBAUSERS-L@midrange.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 1:03 PM
> Subject: Re: Anyone have thoughts on impending purchase of JBA by GEAC?
>
>
> >
> >
> > There were comments that Ken Briddon, Chief Executive of JBA, had
> previously
> > worked for GEAC.  It's unlikely that other parties are interested in
> acquiring
> > JBA, so the little spat some of the stockholders put up, which
> delayed the
> > decision for six weeks, will probably end quietly.  Many people that had
> > purchased JBA stock at much higher than the share price of 250p can't be
> that
> > happy, but there are no other options, GEAC isn't going to sweeten the
> offer.
> >
> > In my opinion, in the long term, the acquisition will benefit
> both parties
> and
> > hopefully the stockholders as well.  As far as most customers who bought
> the
> > software . . . hard to tell.  JBA or GEAC has made no attempt
> that I know
> of to
> > address the customer base of either company.  (Is JBA maybe listening to
> this??)
> > Based on either website (www.geac.com, www.jbaworld.com) you
> will not find
> > anything helpful to the installed base.  GEAC's website has more recent
> news
> > than JBA's.
> >
> > JBA may (and I hear is) use the opportunity to clean house, sure to be
> > uncertainty among the ranks.  If GEAC dismantles the upper management
> structure
> > of JBA, (Good I think) then what to do with the product development?  I
> had
> > heard just maybe (we are talking unsubstantiated rumor here) GEAC might
> bring
> > over the development of the product to North America.  I can't
> imagine how
> > destabilizing it would be the product (actually many products because of
> > verticals), but necessary.  Too long has the product been coded in an
> artificial
> > vacuum.  A minuscule fraction of user group influence aside,  when have
> > customers (other than BIG ones) had any direct feedback into the
> development
> > cycle?  When would (if ever) version 4.0, components, etc. come
> out?  What
> is
> > GEAC's commitment to JBA products, brands, etc.  What about the whole
> > implementation infrastructure (although how many recent sales have there
> been?),
> > customer service/support organization?  What about all the companies JBA
> has
> > acquired, third party relationships, etc.?
> >
> > Somebody ought to be talking soon.  I'm sure when asked now,
> the response
> might
> > be, "The acquisition hasn't happened yet, this discussion is premature".
> I
> > don't think so, why does GEAC want to buy JBA?  What are their
> intentions,
> at
> > least publicly.  All I got out of the web sites were that each is
> complimentary
> > to the other, no real overlap, one augments the other.  Sounds great.
> What
> > about the future? Business as usual with a new parent company, or
> something
> > else?
> >
> > Sorry, I digress.  In summary, I think long term is good for
> the companies
> > involved, short term will have negative effects on software support,
> investments
> > in product improvements will probably be somewhat on hold, the
> layoffs in
> JBA
> > North America aren't going to help users,  expect general
> service level to
> fall
> > for a little while.
> >
> > Randy Smith
> > OMRON Electronics, Inc.
> >
> >
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