Cerg Finance, Paris-based editor of electronic banking and treasury software, said it hit its 1997 revenue growth objective, reporting sales up 21.7% to approximately $34.9m (FF 209.2m). Net profit grew from $1.8m (FF 11m) to $1.9m (FF 11.5m), but CEO Jean-Pierre Roumilhac said the companyÆs 1996 net profit included exceptional items, totaling FF 4m. He noted further that losses in Italy penalized the companyÆs 1997 net result. Nonetheless, a 52.9% jump in operating profit last year, to $3.5m (FF 21.4m), gives Cerg Finance strong reason to believe it will achieve its 1998 growth objective of 25%, said a report in Les Echos. In the last fiscal year, we attained two objectives, said Roumilhac. We extended our product distribution internationally and we concluded partnership agreements. Indeed, Cerg’s foreign sales jumped from $8.1m (FF 49.1m) in 1996 to $11.7m (FF 70.3m). The company noted that it is also ready for the Euro, with Euro versions of its products set for shipment in early May. Cerg Finance is also prepared to make acquisitions, Roumilhac said, and is specifically interested in the future of Concept, the systems house now part of Credit LyonnaisÆ CDR subsidiary. It would be ConceptÆs cash management activity, and not the entire group, that would interest us, he said. But the company is more particularly interested in solidifying a foothold in the US market. An introduction on Nasdaq is forecast in two or three years, Roumilhac said. For the moment, in any case, Cerg Finance has seen its share price on Paris’ Second Market go from FF 210 in September 1996 to FF 549, an increase of 5.2%.
