IBM France SA’s facilities management subsidiary Axone SA has seen nothing of the country’s economic malaise since its inception and 1993 was no exception. Largely due to a contract from its parent company for some $155m, Axone reported last year a 190% increase in its revenues, to $207m in 1993 from about $72m in 1992, with net profit up 7.3% to $3.8m. Although facilities management remains a tiny part of the total French information technology market (2.7% according to market research firm Pierre Audoin Conseil), it is growing at over five times the total market rate – at 27% in 1992-93 compared with just 5% for the market as a whole.
