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Author: Dominique Raviart
Segula Technologies, the largest non-listed R&D services provider in France, is acquiring an additional 12.5m in revenues and 200 staff with the purchase of Eurosim and CTA. Eurosim and CTA are simulation specialists mostly present in France, but with a small presence in Italy.
This is the second acquisition in simulation for Segula since the acquisition of Omega Phi in December 2005. Segula now claims 300 people in digital simulation. The company is buying smaller firms in all areas: in August 2006 it acquired a US IT services firm, Kenda. This reinforced its presence in software development, with 800 staff.
Segula is acquisitive in both France and international markets, and is now looking strategically at international markets for future growth. Today, international operations account for 22% of its sales. The company expects €335m in sales in 2006.
Segula is also expanding beyond its traditional mechanical-engineering background. It is therefore expanding in IT services, but also towards prototyping and manufacturing of parts, especially for the aerospace industry. In this it differs from its main competitors: Altran, Assystem and Alten.
In the midst of Altran Technologies' restructuring and change of CEO, we are hearing a lot of contradicting noises in the industry regarding the underlying profitability of the key players. Segula, a privately-held firm, doesn't have to disclose much financial information, so we can't say much about its financial health. The fact it is expanding aggressively suggests it is reasonably profitable. We will be commenting further on Segula.
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