MCN Direct Newswire

Vol. 7 No. 15, 6 October 2008

This issue is sponsored by:

CODA and The UK Consulting Industry Report 2008

This issue news

1. HCL trumps Infosys offer for Axon
2. Accenture reports record results
3. CSC delivers to Royal Mail
4. Logica fills CIO role
5. MCA offers two new awards
6. Further information - feedback/pass on to a colleague/remove from mailing list

Sponsor

CODA

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1. HCL TRUMPS INFOSYS OFFER FOR AXON

HCL Technologies has outbid fellow Indian IT services player Infosys with a £441 million offer for SAP consultancy Axon.

Last month, Axon recommended that shareholders should agree to a £407 million takeover by Infosys (MCND 7-12). Its board have now withdrawn that suggestion in favour of unanimously recommending the offer from HCL.

Axon explained: "Axon and HCL have enjoyed a long-standing relationship. The board is pleased that HCL has recognised the quality of the Axon business and has announced its intention to make an offer.

The HCL offer is at a premium of 8.3% to the value of the Infosys offer." HCL CEO Vineet Nayar commented: "HCL's transformation journey enters an exciting phase where we are creating partnerships with high-performance teams to become significant in our chosen areas of growth. We see Axon as one such transformational opportunity for HCL to become a significant player in the SAP services space."

Noting the HCL offer, Infosys said it was considering its position. It has urged Axon shareholders to take no action and promised a further announcement in due course.

2. ACCENTURE REPORTS RECORD RESULTS

Accenture has recorded another year of highest-ever revenue and profit, but suggests growth will plateau in fiscal 2009 as it maintains form in difficult economic conditions.

Accenture's net profit for the year to 31 August rose 42% to $1.7 billion (£1 billion), on revenue climbing 19% to a record $23.4 billion. Consulting revenue grew 19% to $14.1 billion, with outsourcing revenue up 18% at $9.3 billion.

Commenting on the results, Accenture chairman and CEO William Green said: "We are very pleased with our strong fourth-quarter and full-year performance, which demonstrates our ability to deliver outstanding results even in challenging economic conditions. We had record bookings and maintained our focus on operating discipline."

The company's five operating groups all showed revenue growth in fiscal 2008, while Asia-Pacific led regional growth with revenue up 26% at $2.1 billion, ahead of EMEA up 21% at $11.4 billion and the Americas up 15% at $9.7 billion.

Looking forward, Green said: "We have continued confidence in our business. With the uncertainty in the economic environment, we are even more focused on closely managing our business, through careful planning, operational discipline and superior execution."

Accenture forecasts a revenue growth rate for fiscal 2009 in line with fiscal 2008.

Sponsor

The UK Consulting Industry Report 2008

We are delighted to announce that the latest 'UK Consulting Industry Report' from the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) is now available. It is based on unique data and performance metrics unavailable elsewhere.

As a consultant who needs to understand which sectors represent the best consultancy opportunities, which service lines are growing, how operational metrics are changing and the outlook for your industry in 2008 and beyond - this report will provide all of this information and more.

To find out more about the report, published jointly by the MCA and PMP, please visit http://www.pmp.co.uk/mcareport.asp, email reports@pmp.co.uk or telephone 01494 732830.

The Consulting Industry Report 2008 is sponsored by CODA.

3. CSC DELIVERS TO ROYAL MAIL

CSC has won an IT services contract from the Royal Mail to provide a national mobile service for 25,000 letters and parcels delivery vehicles.

The project value was not disclosed, but it will be delivered by a CSC-led team including Blackbay, a provider of mobile workforce solutions, and Intermec, a provider of mobile handheld devices.

The new system will enable Royal Mail customers to view the status of tracked deliveries in near real time on the web. The solution integrates a number of legacy systems, replaces paper systems for most tracked items including special delivery, and provides confirmation of delivery through signatures captured on mobile handheld devices.

Guy Hains, president of CSC's European operations, explained: "With the dramatic increase in shopping online and home delivery, it was important for CSC to provide Royal Mail with a robust and scalable solution that could take the company to the next generation of service delivery."

The contract strengthens CSC's position at Royal Mail where it has been working since 2003 on projects including the maintenance of 42,000 desktop computers, the management and development of servers and IT processes, and applications development and maintenance.

4. LOGICA FILLS CIO ROLE

Logica has hired Axa Technology Services chief information officer, Laurent Allard, to fill a new position of CIO at the IT services firm.

Allard will join Logica later this month and will be based in Paris. His career spans a number of senior IT management posts at insurance giant Axa, as well as architect and systems engineering roles at Credit Du Nord and La Redoute.

At Axa, Allard was responsible for overall operation of the company's technology activities and is credited with delivering savings of €270 million (£209 million) on the IT service budget and a dramatic improvement in quality and customer satisfaction.

Commenting on his appointment, Logica chief of global operations Craig Boundy said: "I'm extremely pleased to welcome Laurent to the Logica management team. He brings with him a wealth of experience in designing and driving streamlined IT systems and processes.

"As announced in April of this year, as part of Logica's new strategy we are aligning our IT systems and processes in order to integrate the business more tightly and ultimately provide better service to our customers and value to our shareholders. Laurent Allard will help drive this process and ensure we deliver successfully on our commitment."

5. MCA OFFERS TWO NEW AWARDS

The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has added two new awards to its annual set of prizes and is encouraging entrants to submit their case studies by a deadline of Friday 17 October.

The new awards bring the total to 12 and comprise 'work in support of the environment' and 'customer engagement'. The MCA has also split both its change management and operational performance categories, to recognise achievements in the private and public sectors.

The MCA Management Awards will be in their 13th year in 2009. They aim to showcase consultancy projects that are exceptional in terms of benefits delivered or successful challenges to particularly difficult problems.

6. FURTHER INFORMATION - FEEDBACK/PASS ON TO A COLLEAGUE/REMOVE

• For more information or if you have any feedback on MCN Direct, please email editor@ncc.co.uk
• If you wish to unsubscribe please reply/send an email stating 'Remove !*FIELD1*! from MCNDirect' to: mcndirect@pmp.co.uk.

Written by Sarah Underwood. Copyright 2008 NCC (UK) Ltd.

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