Hardis Group posted revenue of €116.4 million in 2018, up by 17.5% on 2017. Operating income rose 11.4% to €8.02 million. The company has also unveiled its new three-year strategic plan, combining technological innovation, sectoral expertise, organic and external growth and international development.
Hardis Group, a digital services company and independent software vendor, has announced its results for 2018. Revenue grew by 17.5% to €116.4 million, compared with €99.1 million in 2017, surpassing its objective of €113 million, set in early 2018. Operating profit was up 11.4%, reaching €8.02 million, compared with €7.2 million in 2017. The workforce increased by 11.5% to 1,115 employees at the end of 2018. With its new three-year plan for 2019-2021, Hardis Group expects average annual growth of 12.4%, with significant investments in employee training and certification to be able to provide an even more relevant response to its clients' transformation challenges, with significant added value.
Growth driven by all the group's activities
With a turnover of €79.2 million, services account for 68% of Hardis Group's activity. Consulting has grown by 23%, with a turnover of €13.6 million. Application development and integration services grew by 15% (€45.8 million compared with €39.8 million in 2017), with very strong growth in Salesforce activities. "Our Advanced Solutions business unit has seen 142% growth. It achieved a turnover of nearly 7 million, as expected in early 2018. Its workforce has quadrupled in a year, reaching 80 members of staff", explains Nicolas Odet, Managing Director of Hardis Group. Private and public cloud hosting activities are now worth €19.8m and grew by 12%.
The publishing business for logistics applications (Reflex Solutions) recorded growth of 23% in sales of licenses and associated services. It generated turnover of €34.1 million. "International license sales now account for 31% of total license sales. We're seeing strong acceleration in SaaS", says Yvan Coutaz, Managing Director of Hardis Group. Overall, including Reflex cloud hosting services, logistics account for €42.5 million of the group's activity. "This year has seen the opening of a subsidiary in the Netherlands to serve Benelux, confirmation of the global roll-out of our Reflex WMS warehouse management software and the first sales of our Eyesee drone-based inventory solution", Yvan Coutaz continues. License and service sales for the Adelia development platform account for close to €2.3 million.
The number of employees, meanwhile, increased from 1,000 to 1,115, an increase of 11.5%. "This more moderate growth in employee numbers is due to our focus on retaining and training our employees, while ensuring quality working conditions, in addition to the delivery of services with higher added value", Nicolas Odet observes.
2019-2021: accelerating client transformation with technology
For the 2019 financial year, Hardis Group is planning to achieve a turnover of €129 million, with growth of slightly more than 10% and an operating profit between 7 and 8%. On average, the group expects growth in annual revenue of 12.4% over the next three years.
As part of its new 2019-2021 strategic plan, called HG X.0, the company's mission is to accelerate its clients' transformation and development through technology and, in particular, to create increasing value with regard to data (artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart objects, etc.), the cloud (applications, platforms and infrastructures) and automation (robots, drones, etc.).
The new strategy, which is a continuation of the two previous three-year plans, will focus on two areas. Firstly, the development of “ESN X.0” activities with the establishment of centers of excellence to meet the challenges of the digital transformation in specific target sectors: industry 4.0, insurance 2.0, retail 4.0, services 4.0 and even agri-food 3.0.
Secondly, the ambition to become the leading pure-player in Europe to address both the transformations of trade and logistics, with the development and integration of software applications that cover every stage of a sale's life cycle, from the online order to the management of all logistical flows in warehouses, factories and stores. "To do this, we will strengthen our presence in the countries in which we are already present, namely the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, and explore possibilities for new locations, particularly in Central Europe", Yvan Coutaz explains.
"ESN X.0 activities will grow organically and essentially in France, while external growth operations for sales and logistics are already being considered at a European level. Our new investors, CM-CIC Investissement and Bpifrance, will provide us with real strategic and financial support for this kind of operation", Nicolas Odet concludes.
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