Catalyst Solutions Plc, a Frimley, UK-based IT services company, is hoisting the e-commerce flag and anticipates making up to 20% of its total revenue from the sector within a year. The company has been moving up the value chain for several months, diversifying from reselling into applications and services, en route to an initial public offering in the fourth quarter next year on the London Stock Exchange.
Catalyst is restructuring around four divisions, one of which is the new sector. The other three are Infrastructure, which includes Catalyst’s traditional IBM servers and AS/400 support, Enterprise Applications, comprising SAP and JD Edwards reseller business, and Managed Services, Catalyst’s facilities management, disaster recovery and application service provision interests. Catalyst has also appointed a new ‘part-time’ chairman, Ken Olisa, who will continue his role as managing director of Interregnum Ltd, a London IT management consultancy and venture capital middleman.
Alan Hixon, chief executive of Catalyst says he now sees the firm, with its range of services and product offerings, as a mini EDS. The aspirations carry tougher tests and Catalyst is beginning to compete against major players such as Sema Group and Cap Gemini, instead of the point solution providers in its separate market areas such as disaster recovery or AS/400 support. Hixon says that Catalyst’s lack of consultants means that the company will have a stronger technology-focused lead, rather than one highlighting integration or services.
The IPO will probably be used to fund organic geographic expansion, enlarging the company’s US representation in Chicago, and pushing into Germany, as well as providing a warchest for acquisitions. But Catalyst isn’t counting any chickens before its Year 2000 eggs are hatched. Hixon expects only 10% revenue growth this year, compared to Catalyst’s previous trajectory of 50%, figures directly related to millennium lock-downs. Our focus is really on getting to the other side of the millennium, he says.
