NETHERLaNDS
ENTERPRISE NEWS
S&T sets acquisition targets
Wipro change at
EUROPE the top ruckus
S&T, WHICH reported this week, has
EUROPE INDIa
been pushing its consulting, solutions
and service operations as they are less WIPRO Technologies has been hit by a wave of
affected by seasonal influences than rumours of change at the top. P R Chandrasekar,
the IT infrastructure business. During head of sales for Wipro in Europe has gone,
the traditionally weak business period and this has been confirmed by the company.
at the start of the year, S&T recorded Chandrasekar had recently also been given the US
growth in sales of 12% and EBIT growth market to run, and has quit the company this week,
of 40%. As expected, after record but no reasons were given. An Indian business
results in the Q4 2007 and for the 2007 television channel reported market talk that in all,
financial year as a whole, S&T’s growth four key executives of Wipro were going, which in
is set to continue. S&T has won new turn fuelled speculation about many more senior
and strategically important business. officials, including the head of Wipro BPO, TK
The IT consulting and solutions area Kurien, and Sudip Nandy, who heads the telecom
of the business recorded particularly business.
good results in the Q1 of 2008 – rising In his earlier roles in Wipro, P R Chandrasekar
55% to €34.6m. By 2010, the company has been responsible for global mergers and
plans to generate more than 60% of acquisitions, channel development and the global
its sales from both this and the Managed Services systems has suffered a 5% fall, possibly due to .net business.
business areas. Particularly in the DACH region S&T being billed and billing in dollars, so lower cost The main reason cited for the supposed
has achieved in the managed services business area goods at the same margin directly affect the top resignations was the unhappiness over the recent
a good market position by assuming responsibility line. But he is ready for the big deals, now, he says. changes in the management hierarchy. Two
for the servicing of entire IT areas. Numerous large “Four years ago we weren’t ready.” weeks ago, Wipro announced a realignment of
contracts in this area in Q1 led to an organic sales And there remains Turkey to be turned round its management structure, under which Girish
growth of 18% to €23m. fully. Problems identified here, and in Hungary and Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani were appointed as
But profitability has to increase for it to make Russia have led to restructuring, and a clear go- joint CEOs, with Vaswani heading the infotech, BPO
its target numbers in 2010. CEO Christian Rosner to-market has now been established, he says. But and enterprise division and Paranjpe heading the
(above) says that because, in previous years, the Turkey, which he says is now back on-track may telecom and BFSI businesses.
company did not have the cash “we were buying take until the end of Q2 to fix. www.wipro.com
cheap, not the most profitable businesses”. But www.snt-world.com
he is preparing further acquisitions: “We’ve never
OUR aNaLySIS
had so many projects. There is a huge potential
Turkcell joins
for acquisitions. The problem is finding reasonable In a period when other companies are complaining
targets. There are plenty of opportunities, from of a squeeze and poor margins, S&T has managed Euro think-tank
Turkey to Germany,” he tells IT Europa. to produce figures well up on a year ago. And
But he needs to be selective and concentrate only some of this is due to acquisitions. Everyone
TURKEy
only on those that will build his earnings. And is complaining about the early Easter eating into
while managed services is nicely up, the enterprises billable days, but S&T has shown how to do it. GSM OPERATOR Turkcell has become the first
Turkish company to be made a corporate member
Esprinet reports growth and signs Kapersky
of the Centre for European Policy Studies, a key
European talking shop. The Centre for European
ITaLy RUSSIa software vendor Kaspersky Lab. Policy Studies (CEPS) is an independent policy
“We are proud that Kaspersky has chosen research institute located in Brussels. By conducting
LEADING Italian disti Esprinet has approved its Esprinet in this period of expansion on the Italian academic research and evaluating the business
financial results for FY ‘07, clocking up €1,785.8bn, market,” says Esprinet Italy Product Marketing world’s experiences, it also aims to bring solutions
up 10% on FY ‘06. Manager Marco Bardelli. to current problems.
The company, which also registers a strong “With the introduction of Kaspersky. we will Significantly, the CEPS, which originally came
presence on the Spanish market after its further expand our security solutions range.” up with the common currency idea, initiated the
acquisitions, has also seen its net financial debt Commenting on the deal, Kapersky Lab Business EU’s expansion towards Central Eastern Europe.
decrease to €55.7m, which is a €96m improvement Development Manager Alexander Moiseev explains CES is known for its task forces and projects in
on 2006. that it is in line with their expansion strategy on telecommunication, energy, environment, tax and
In line with these encouraging results, the VAD the Italian market, which also includes the opening finance. An earlier CEPS report looked at high tax
has decided to expand its business by signing of an Italian subsidiary. rates in Turkish telecoms industry in Turkey.
a distribution agreement with Russian security www.esprinet.com www.kaspersky.com www.turkcell.com.tr
6 02 may 2008
It0808 - 4-7_enterprise_news.ind6 6 30/04/2008 11:56:02
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