“This is a historic year with the best results since the company is” . Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Cegid, does not hide his satisfaction. The Lyon editor management software, which has about 2,000 people, including 1,900 in France, finished 2014 with a rise in sales of 2.6% to 266.6 million euros and earnings up 18 % to 22.1 million. The publishing business, which is the heart of the company’s business with the sale of software licenses and software as a cloud service, jumped 5% to € 187 million.
In 2013, Cegid has swung in the cloud with advantage of software sales as online service (SaaS software as service) as sales of traditional software licenses. The transition was amplified in 2014, since the cloud represents 58% of software sales, against 53.5% a year earlier. And Jean-Michel Aulas provides for a rate of 80% in 3 years. The number of users of its SaaS platform rose 95,000 in 2013 to 120 000 in 2014. The order stock (SaaS contracts signed but have not yet begun to generate revenues) increased by 33% to 116.4 million euro in January 2015 compared to January 2014. A figure that promises significant additional income, but spread over the coming years.
It is time for a new phase of development
A success that positions among Cegid software leaders in the cloud in France. According to the CAP office, the Lyon editor ranks fifth with 46 million euros in the SaaS in France, behind Salesforce (€ 168 million), Capgemini (€ 140 million), Google (93 million euros ) and Microsoft (€ 69 million). Except for Capgemini, publishers ahead are all Americans. “Capgemini can hardly be considered as a software publisher, says Patrick Bertrand, the CEO of Cegid. We are actually the first French software company in the cloud.” The presence of Capgemini in the CAP ranking Prosodie has a flow management services company in the cloud acquired by the group of digital services in 2011.
It is now time to move to a new phase of development. On the program: external growth with the acquisition of publishers from 5 to 20 million euros in turnover to increase the customer base in SMEs and to expand internationally. The company believes in strong financial position with a reduced debt by half in 6 years to 40 million euros and free cash flow of € 23.7 million in 2014. “So far we we developed internationally by helping our customers, mainly in distribution, says Patrick Bertrand. We want to take this opportunity to offer our local customers. We see great opportunities, particularly in Africa in the areas of taxation and production. “
International represents only 20 million euros in 2014, or 40% of turnover in the distribution. The objective is to move to 50 million euros in three years. For this, it plans to open a SaaS center in Asia (probably in China according to Patrick Bertrand), second only to the one created in the United States, and strengthening of international teams, 120 today persons, 20 hires. The conquest of export is modest but real.
Ridha Loukil
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