German IT services company Debis Systemhaus GmbH, a division of US/German automotive giant DaimlerChrysler, announced yesterday that it had enjoyed a record 1998 in terms of revenue, which was up 39% to DM4.39bn ($2.39bn), while the market as a whole, according to the company, grew 15%.

Announcing the result, CEO Karl Heinz Achinger highlighted revenue growth outside Germany, which was up 97% to DM1.09 ($600m), or 25% of the total. The bulk of revenue came from Europe, but contributions were also made from Debis operations in the US, Japan, Brazil, the Philippines, Singapore and South Africa.

The company, based just outside Stuttgart, also noted that revenue from clients other than its parent, DaimlerChrysler also grew faster than revenue as a whole last year, increasing 49% to DM3.02bn ($1.64bn). As a result, this segment of revenue represented 69% of the total in 1998, up from 64% the previous year. As a privately held company, Debis does not publish figures for net profit. In terms of return on net assets (operating profit/net assets), however, the company said it had exceeded the group target of 15.5%.

Debis’s staff grew 40% overall last year to 13,325 people. However, its emphasis on international operations can be seen in the 102% increase in staff outside Germany, which stood at 3,167 at year’s end. Achinger said that around 30% of the new employees were the result of company acquisitions, particularly foreign ones.

As for the breakdown of the company’s revenue by area of activities, outsourcing continued to be the largest single business domain, growing 52% to DM2.94bn ($1.6bn), followed by software development, which was up 15% to DM1.23bn ($720m). Consultancy services for Diebold, SAP and other software projects made up the total, its 57% growth taking it to DM213m ($115m) in 1998.

Achinger also noted the growth of Davon Desktop Services, a separate subsidiary whose revenue is not factored into the total. Davon’s revenue grew 93%, to DM1.06bn ($580m).

With regard to revenue by sector of the economy, manufacturing still represented the largest single source of Debis Systemhaus’s business, making up 37.3% of the total, followed by financial services (17.9%) and telecoms (12.5%).

For this year, Debis expects a further 25%-30% growth in revenue, its first quarter having increased 30% in comparison with the same period last year. Achinger also said that, by his estimates, last year’s revenue already put it in fifth position among European IT concerns.