| | LogicaCMG has agreed to
buy French software
developer Unilog for 930
million euros ($1.14
billion).
The acquisition will
see the number four
player in the French
market complement
LogicaCMG's existing
positions in the UK and
the Netherlands, while
it would make LogicaCMG
one of the largest IT
companies in France, and
more than double its
size in Germany.
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The move came just
two weeks after
LogicaCMG Chief
Executive Martin Read
said he was targeting
acquisitions in France
and Germany in order to
build scale and
accelerate the return to
profit of Logica's units
in those regions.
Earlier in September,
LogicaCMG beat market
expectations, reporting
healthy growth in both
revenue and
profitability in the | |
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| | first half of the year,
but hinted at possible
acquisition in France
and Germany to build
scale and bring
loss-making local
operations back in the
black.
In the six months
ending June 30, 2005,
LogicaCMG increased its
net profit 62% to
GBP24.1m ($43m), on
revenue that rose 10.9%
to GBP891.7m ($1.59bn).
Operating profit grew
23% to GBP40.8m | |
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| | ($72.8m), giving the
company a margin of
4.6%.
Martin Read, company
chief executive, said
the group was beginning
to benefit from the 2002
merger that combined the
UK's Logica with
Netherlands-based CMG
and performance for the
year is expected to show
a significant
improvement over 2004.
Read also pointed out
that many of the
contracts the company | |
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| | had won, including work
for Energias de
Portugal, the UK's
Ministry of Defence, the
Metropolitan Police and
Thames Water, would have
been beyond the scale of
either company on its
own.
The company's order
book increased 50%
during the first half of
the year.
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