CRESCENDO, 15% business growth at half a year
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Crescendo, 15% business growth at half a year

Crescendo, 15% business growth at half a year

Revenue from contracts signed in previous years and collected in the first half of this year, the combination of self-financing and bank facilities, budget restructuring for each business direction, and closer monitoring of cost structures were the main factors that supported this period and led even at the growth of Crescendo’ business, one of the largest Romanian software and IT services companies.

Thus, in the first half of the year, the company registered a turnover of approximately nine million euros, up 15% compared to the same period last year, when it achieved sales of 7.8 million euros. “If things go so far, we’re down on stagnation, but in the first semester there have been many projects started in previous years. We are still working on new projects – fewer than before; in addition, the percentage of projects that are being finalized, out of the discussed ones, is lower than in previous years,” said for Business Standard, Marius Tulea, general manager of the company.

As far as profitability is concerned, CRESCENDO expects for the end of the year a net profit margin of 2-3%, significantly lower than last year, due to renegotiation of support contracts, as well as a massive decrease in the budgets allocated to IT investments.

Here, a few years ago, the company underwent a reorganization phase in which it created several business units for important business lines. “Each of these is a profit center, so we can track profitable and less profitable areas. We can take targeted action, where appropriate,” explains Marius Tulea.

Listing on the stock market, tempting option for the company

The company’s officials are not interested in borrowing, the combination of self-financing and bank facilities representing, they say, the best way to finance in terms of costs. Also, “selling the company is not among our goals. More tempting is the listing on the stock market, when market conditions would favor such an approach,” Tulea said.

Regarding the main lines of activity, after the first semester, total value added services and software solutions accounted for approximately 55% of total revenues, with integration services accounting for the largest share, followed by outsourcing services by approximately 25% of total income. “As technologies, we see a greater focus on infrastructure and applications that have the role of lowering costs (virtualization, unified communications, etc.), while more complex ERP and CRM projects have been reduced or postponed,” Tulea argues.

Similar to last year, the vast majority of Crescendo projects take place in the enterprise segment – companies with over 200-300 employees. Most of the revenues come from the energy, production and distribution, transport and communications industries, the financial and banking sector and the public sector are in the queue.

Also in the first semester, Crescendo cut its costs by 6%, the next step being to create opportunities, following closely the needs of the partners during this period.

The company recorded a turnover of 18.16 million euros last year, 80% above its 2007 business level. For this year, the company estimates turnover at a level similar to 2008.

Author: | Source: Business Standard | Pulished: 12.10.2009, 21:00 | Actualizat: 12.10.2009, 21:00

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