Double-digit organic growth at Sopra

I’ve had a long association with Sopra – having a hand in two of the their acquisitions (Mentor and Newell & Budge) that form the bedrock of their UK operations.

Sopra’s Q1 results were pretty encouraging with organic growth of 10.6% - taking revenues to €268.7m. Good results seem to have been achieved across the board with Consulting (Orga Consultants) up 9.3% at €11.8m, SSI France up 11.9% at €166.8m, SSI Europe up 6% at €56.2 and Axway up 12.3% at €339m. SSI Europe includes Sopra’s UK operations which grew by an impressive 8.2%.

Outlook is equally good with a “at least equivalent growth in Q2” and “organic growth higher than the market for 2008 as a whole”. Sopra, with revenues in excess of €1b and over 11,000 staff is a pretty conventional consulting, IT services and SI outfit. Axway is their ‘products’ operation. It has managed to stay ‘independent’ – quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange where it has a current market value of €590m – a PSR of c0.6. Despite a pretty impressive performance, Sopra is a member of Holway’s 50% club where its shares are currently 50% or lower from its 2007 high.

Sopra would make a catch for any global company wanting a decent footprint in Europe and France in particular.