• Preamble
• France
• Europe
• Expansion strategy

Founded in January 1968 by Pierre Pasquier, Léo Gantelet and François Odin, Sopra Group is one of Europe’s longest established IT services companies.

From the outset, Sopra Group positioned itself in all of the IT services sectors and soon became a key player in the French market.

In 1990, Sopra Group was successfully listed on the Paris Bourse. Prior to this initial public offering, a first share subscription option plan was set in place for the vast majority of employees. From that time on, Sopra Group has maintained a balance between organic growth and growth through acquisition.

The most significant acquisitions

 France

• In 1996, Sopra Group acquired SG2 Ingénierie, bringing Société Générale into the group’s capital as well as adding 650 members to its workforce. This influx of personnel considerably strengthened the Company’s presence in Paris, the French provinces and Belgium;
• in 2000, Sopra Group acquired Orga Consultants, which specialises in strategy, management and organisational consulting, and has a workforce of 200. This acquisition enabled Sopra Group to develop a high-level consulting business;
• in December 2003, Sopra Group acquired Inforsud Ingénierie from Crédit Agricole. This acquisition reaffirmed Sopra Group’s dominant position in the banking sector and solidified its uncontested leadership in lending management and smartcard technologies;
• in July 2004, Sopra Group acquired Valoris, a European consulting and IT services company employing a staff of nearly 500. Its offer of services ranges from strategy consulting to the management of IT architectures. Valoris is a market leader in the following areas: Business Intelligence (BI), Client Relationship Management (CRM), Portals and Content Management.

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 Sopra Group has expanded through acquisitions and is firmly focused on becoming a European leader in systems integration:

• after having opened its first international office in Switzerland and having obtained, with the acquisition of SG2 in 1996, its equivalent in Belgium, between 1999 and 2001 Sopra Group’s international network began to take shape, with the acquisitions of Mentor in the United Kingdom, Organizacion Guver, Dipisa, Newpath Consulting and Newpath GS in Spain, and ITI SpA in Italy;
• in 2005, Sopra Group accelerated its development in the United Kingdom and Spain:

• by the acquisition of Newell & Budge in the United Kingdom as well as its Irish and Indian subsidiaries. The market leader in Scotland, supported by a staff of over 600 (including more than 100 employees of the India-based subsidiary Momentum Technologies), this company provides a complete range of consultancy, delivery and support services;
  
  As the positioning of Newell & Budge complements that of Sopra Group in the United Kingdom, the combined entity benefits from complete geographic coverage of this market, a highly skilled and experienced workforce and a strengthened client base, particularly in the financial services, public sector and telecoms verticals,  

• by the acquisition of PROFit SA, based in Spain and Portugal, which offers its blue chip clients a full range of IT services, encompassing consulting as well as the implementation of solutions and applications outsourcing services. PROFit has developed its value-added offerings in the banking, energy, telecoms and public sector verticals.
  
  As the positioning of PROFit complements that of Sopra Group Group in Spain, the combined entity benefits from complete geographic coverage of this market (Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Vitoria) and Portugal (with a presence in Lisbon), a highly skilled and experienced workforce and a strengthened client base, particularly in the financial services, telecoms, public sector and retail verticals.
  

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Axway Software subsidiary

In 2001, the Group decided to use its Axway Software subsidiary to make inroads into the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) market and set about becoming a global player in the field:

• Axway Software was set up (400 employees and revenue of €50 million) in 2001 to take responsibility for the entire EAI business. Axway draws upon Sopra Group’s considerable experience and expertise in project management while combining specialist know-how, a powerful sales force and a loyal client base;
• in 2002, the Group acquired the integration business of Viewlocity Inc, beginning with its European subsidiaries and then acquiring units in Asia and the United States. This acquisition rounded out Axway’s offer with products specialised in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and gave it global geographic coverage. Thanks to this deal, Axway has become a major EAI services company with a staff of 600;
• in early 2006, the Group acquired Cyclone Commerce in the United States. This merger was in keeping with Axway’s worldwide development strategy. The complementary positioning of the two companies creates a global leader in the B2B, SOA and collaborative services domains, capable of serving the needs of the largest multinational corporations;
• in early 2007, the Group acquired the B2B software business of Atos Origin in Germany. This acquisition makes Axway the undisputed European leader in B2B software platforms and significantly reinforces its presence in Germany, the largest market in Europe for this sector;
• in September 2008, the Group acquired T umbleweed Communications Corp. This acquisition has enabled both companies to strengthen their positions in the B2B/file transfer market while delivering a significant boost to Axway’s North American revenue.

As part of its international expansion strategy, Sopra Group works closely with Axway to maintain and amplify Sopra Group’s growth drive, focusing on consolidating its leadership positions in key European markets.

Sopra Group’s worldwide organisation ensures that it is able to leverage its successes from one market to the next. In this way, the Group aims to solidify its positioning as a leading provider of Consulting and Systems & Solutions Integration services of French origin, supported by a strong presence in the banking and insurance sectors, with an extensive regional footprint in France and a carefully managed cross-border growth strategy.

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