Already strong in the Netherlands, UK-based Logica Plc took a big leap into France yesterday when it agreed to buy loss-making Paris systems house Axime Ingenierie SA from its parent, Axime SA, for 18.4m British pounds – a low price to pay for 1,000 staff, a France-wide operation with annual revenues of 41m pounds. Axime Ingenierie is regarded as a non-core adjunct to computer services major Axime SA, which is in process of acquiring the much older Sligos SA (CI No 3,032). Logica Plc gets the Luxembourg and Belgian operations of the division – to be merged with Logica Belgium – as well as France, and the acquisition will be financed from cash reserves and borrowings. Logica expects the purchase to make a small contribution to its earnings in the current financial year – all of which was good for a 25 pence jump in the share price to 886.5 pence. Axime Ingenierie is a diversified systems house with skills in Unix systems, client-server computing, Electronic Data Interchange and the financial sector, and is a SAP AG R/3 implementation partner. Despite this being its biggest acquisition for 10 years – when it bought Data Architects Inc in the US – Logica says it sees no need to a pause in its expansion program, and wants to strengthen its position in Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. The French unit will become Logica SA; chief executive Christian Chevallier remains in post. Last year, 4,800-employee Logica did 24.7m pounds pre-tax on revenue of 284.8m.
