French systems house Concept SA, which saw its business nosedive in the early 1990s, is apparently on its way to recovery. New chief executive Bruno Mousnier-Lompre announced recently that Concept expects to report a modest net profit equivalent to between $2m and $4m for the year. Plagued by heavy losses, a decline in revenues, and a shareholder shuffle since 1991, the company is now 100%-owned by CDR, the holding company formed to house the saleable assets of bankrupt state bank Credit Lyonnais. Mousnier-Lompre refocused Concept on its core business – editing financial and accounting software. Concept has once again become a profitable company that has streamlined its activities without sacrificing its research and development, he said in a report in Les Echos, adding that the company should see revenues of some $46m, compared with the equivalent of $45m last year. He said the company’s health was improved essentially through increasing software sales and reducing personnel costs. Indeed, with 25% of its revenues from software sales, Concept claims 45% of the French market for treasury management, 70% of products for financial consolidation and reporting and 12% of accounting software. With a recapitalization of approximately $20m, the company’s balance sheet is back in the black, which means that it may soon be in a state to be put on the market. Founded in 1971, Concept saw its peak at the end of the 1980s, achieving annual revenues of about $300m in 1991.
