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Navigant
aquires Troika
Infosys acquires Philips BPO centres under multi-year outsourcing deal
 
 Infosys Technologies Ltd
has signed a $250m
outsourcing contract
with Royal Philips
Electronics of the
Netherlands.
   As part of the
agreement, Philips will
enter into a multi-year
contract with Infosys
BPO to provide Finance &
Accounting (F&A)
services and the
processing of purchasing
orders. Infosys will
also acquire three
shared service centres
located in India, Poland		 
 and Thailand from
Philips for $28m. The
transaction is expected
to be completed by
October.
   The contract is
amongst the largest
Finance & Accounting BPO
engagements from India
and will expand Infosys'
global network,
particularly
strengthening its
European operations.
(Tata Consultancy
Services won a similar
sized outsourcing
contract, worth $244m,		 
 from ABN Amro in 2005.)
   The deal extends
Infosys' global network
with new centres in
India, Poland and
Thailand. It has had a
branch office in the
Czech Republic since
2005.
   The firm will gain
approximately 1,400
Philips professionals
who will add to the
Infosys BPO team a wide
range of valuable skills
and abilities, which
include diverse language
capabilities, technical		 
 expertise and domain
knowledge.
   Infosys BPO has seen
significant growth of
over 70% in revenues and
an increase in client
base of over one-third
in the financial year
2007. The subsidiary
currently has close to
11,000 employees and
posted revenues of
around $164m and net
profit of $37.5m in its
last fiscal year, ended
31 March.
   Infosys generates two
thirds of its sales		 
 revenue in the US. For
the quarter just ended
total sales reached
$928m, a 40% increase
from last year, and
profit totalled $263m.
   The company currently
employs some 80,000
people and plans to
increase that number to
above 100,000 by the end
of this year.
   		 
 
Capgemini continues recovery thanks to Indian expansion
 
 Capgemini’s first-half
results show its
recovery is continuing:
operating profit almost
doubled thanks to the
company's Indian
expansion and growth in
its systems integration
unit.
   In the six months
ended 30 June, 2006, the
Paris-based company
increased operating
profit by 64.7% to €229m
($313m), in line with
market expectations,
from €181m in the same
period a year ago. Net
profit more than doubled
to €168m ($230m) from
€71m ($97m) in the
year-ago period.
   Sales rose 16.2% to
€4.4bn ($6bn), and by		 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 full year 2007 and
reiterated its
"ambition" for a 2008
operating margin of
8.5%.
   Orders were €4.25bn
in the first half, and
included €1.2bn of
outsourcing. The systems
integration business
achieved the strongest
revenue growth with a
rise of 15.4%, thanks to
a better utilisation
rate and increased use
of offshore resources.
Outsourcing revenue rose
13%, driven by large
contracts signed at
end-2005 and in early
2006, and the business
margin doubled to 4.5%.
   Local professional
services achieved		 
 revenue growth of 7.8%
and had the strongest
operating margin of all
businesses at 9.6%. The
consulting business
showed a slight overall
revenue decline, even
though it grew sharply
in France and in
Southern Europe. But its
margin topped 8%, like
last year.
   The company's
operating margin
continues to increase,
reaching 6.1% in the
first half from 5.8% in
full-year 2006. Benelux
continued to record the
best performance at an
operating margin of
14.3%, while France is
still reporting the
lowest at 2.5%. 		 
    Capgemini said its
workforce in India,
where it acquired Kanbay
in February, could
exceed 20,000 people by
the first quarter of
2008. The number of
offshore staff currently
stands at 17,543 people
or 22% of Capgemini's
total workforce.
   Capgemini's share
price has outperformed
France's benchmark
CAC-40 index so far this
year, boosted by solid
results and speculation
about a possible bid
from Indian company
Infosys Technologies.
   Capgemini has denied
any contact with
Infosys.
   		 
 11.5% on a constant
currency and
like-for-like basis. The
strongest growth was in
the Nordic countries
with an increase of
21.5% in revenues,
followed by the Southern
Europe area (Spain,
Portugal and Italy) with
13.6% and North America
with 12.5% growth.
   Capgemini confirmed
revenue growth of 9% and
an operating margin
target of 7% for the		 
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