Renaissance in tune with i-Pod craze

Renaissance chief Paul Johnston sees wider grounds for the share price rise. Picture / Fotopress

Shares in IT company Renaissance have climbed almost 50 per cent in the past month, with brokers crediting the company's exclusive distribution of the popular Apple iPod.

Renaissance shares have jumped 48 per cent or 34c from 70c on December 6 to as high as $1.04 yesterday.

Although iPod's popularity - especially around Christmas - has been a big boost, Renaissance managing director Paul Johnston sees wider grounds for the improvement.

"iPod's definitely been a huge success but we have seen a good uplift right across the business."

Renaissance has a market capitalisation of $38 million and five business units:

* Apple Computer Division: exclusively markets and distributes products from Apple through authorised resellers, and directly to the public via an online store.

* Conduit International: an e-commerce organisation which supplies and hosts online shopping websites and facilitates electronic data transfer between organisations.

* Insite Technology: based in Christchurch, specialises in building personal computers, notebook computers and servers.

* Itas: a specialist education sector supplier of computer hardware and software.

* Renaissance Brands: markets IT products on behalf of domestic and international vendors.

On December 7, Renaissance told the stock exchange it was expecting its second-half profit to be "considerably ahead" of the first half due to strong trading conditions.

In August, the company had announced a first-half, after-tax profit of $770,000, up 14.4 per cent on the previous corresponding period.

Investors liked the early Christmas news.

Publicly listed in 1968, Renaissance has evolved from a mineral mining business to an information technology company.

In a 2002 restructure, it halved its business by dumping several high-profile but low-margin contracts in favour of a smaller stable of exclusive distribution rights.

These include Apple, PalmOne, FileMaker and US Robotics.

Johnston said the renewed focus had also helped performance.

Unable to give away too many secrets about this year - the other side of continuous disclosure - he said it would be a good one with a new product - Gizmondo - due mid-year and a goal of delivering consistent results and dividends.

"I can say it's probably the most exciting year since I've been in the company and I've been here seven years.

"The IT boom is not over - definitely not."

The hand-held Gizmondo, will provide gaming, multi-media messaging, an MP3 player, Mpeg4 movie capability, a digital camera and GPS.

Renaissance's annual result for the year to December 31 is due next month.