Consolidated Sales Revenue : €43.2M
Operating Profit   : €3.8M
Net Profit    : €2.3M

Paris, 28 September 2005 – Business & Decision reinforce their position as Specialist Consultants.

Business & Decision, the European consulting and data engineering company specialising in Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and E-Business, today announced operating profit results for the first six month period of 2005, of €3.8M (which represents 8.9% of the consolidated sales revenue). This represents a growth of 6.9 times against the comparative period from last year, which has been restated in accordance with IFRS standards. The resulting net profit for the first six-month period of 2005 is €2.3M (5.4% of consolidated sales revenue) which represents a two-fold increase against the comparative period from last year.

“In a strong market (which is predicted to grow between 4%-6% in 2005 according to SYNTEC), the Group is moving closer to its historical margin levels and our consolidated sales revenue should continue to grow during 2006”, commented Patrick Bensabat, CEO of Business & Decision.

For the first time, the Group has published its results in accordance with the new IFRS accounting standards. Consolidated sales revenue for the first six-months of 2005 (€43.2M) reflected a growth of 41% (of which 35% was organic), against the comparative period from last year. Activities outside of France represented 23% of consolidated sales revenue for the first six-months of 2005.

Business & Decision: “Specialist Consultants”

“This excellent performance reflects the strength of Business & Decision’s offering in key business areas (Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management and E-Business), in new added-value offerings (such as Management Consulting, ERP) and in investments outside of France”, added Patrick Bensabat. “This performance is also attributed to our ability to quickly attract new talent to our business (an additional 500 employees are planned to be recruited in the next 12 months) and we plan to keep our staff turnover below 4%.”

Business & Decision’s Areas of Expertise:

Business Intelligence (+39.8%) is Business & Decision’s foundation area of expertise, and the Group has become the leader for Business Intelligence in France and Europe. This area continues to demonstrate strong growth and accounted for 67% of activity during the first six-months of 2005.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is experiencing very strong growth (+56.5%) and Business & Decision are seen as the specialist consultancy in France for this area. 17% of activity arose from this area during the first six-months of 2005.
E-Business (+16.7%) accounted for 14% of activity from the first six-months of 2005. Successful investments have enabled Business & Decision to develop expertise in this area, and the Group are now seen as one of the first E-Business services companies in France.

The Groups’ future strategy is directly linked to market opportunities:
Metaphora (Paris and Bordeaux, 30 consultants) is a consultancy company specialising in change relating to the implementation of new IT platforms.
A new consulting and implementation offering in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – started in 2005, Business & Decision already have 30 consultants in this area, which provided 2% of consolidated sales turnover for the first half of 2005.
Infineo is a Management Consultancy division offering specialist advice in financial planning and direction. As part of the decision making process, this offering transforms finance functions and addresses approval processes, risk management (such as Basel II) and process management.

Leadership:

The Business & Decision model relies on successful relationships with the market leading technology vendors. These relationships are closely linked to Business & Decision’s R&D facilities, enabling the Group to train on new solutions before general release and obtain early client references sites, etc. This gives Business & Decision a competitive edge, for example:
- The partnership between Business & Decision and SAP. Business & Decision was selected as the principal partner in France for the launch of the SAP BW offering.
- The strengthening partnership with Siebel. Business & Decision was selected in France as the main partner for the launch of a new offering from Siebel, which promoted Siebel Analytics for marketing campaign management.
- An IAM centre specialising in LDAP directories and identity management with developed through partnerships with Novell, Microsoft, SUN and BMC.

The Business & Decision Model Outside France:

The Business & Decision model is striving to achieve critical mass in each of the countries in which it is present and replicate the model that has been developed in France. During the first six months of 2005, Business & Decision achieved:
- An acquisition in Benelux. In March, the Group acquired the consultancy company NEXHOS (based in Brussels and Luxembourg with 15 consultants), to reinforce their regional leadership.
- An acquisition in the UK. In May, the Group acquired Domino Systems (based in Oxford with 30 consultants). Domino specialise in E-Business and enables Business & Decision in the UK to deploy a broader ‘multi-specialist’ offering.

Human Resources:

The Business & Decision Group has a headcount of more than 1,100 employees (as of end of September 2005). By positioning themselves as a specialist in their field, Business & Decision plan to expand their expertise in France and the rest of Europe. With a plan to recruit more than 500 people in the next 12 months, the Group will develop teams and recruit more specialist consultants to ensure customers receive exceptional service. This management of human resources, the quality of the projects delivered and the international aspects of the Group, allow Business & Decision to keep staff turnover at an exceptional level of 4%.

This Group’s positioning as “Specialist Consultants” will be promoted in a television advertising campaign to be broadcast on LCI for a period of 3 weeks. This will (achieve a) reach (of) 2 million viewers.

“These half-year results are very strong. We have taken a good level of customer orders and have high levels of activity. Business & Decision has managed to achieve its annual objectives”, added Patrick Bensabat. “The Group aims to have a headcount of 1,500 employees by the end of 2006 and hopes to play a major role in the consolidation of the system integrator market.”

About Business & Decision

Business & Decision specialises in providing solutions and related consultancy in Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management, E-Business and Management Consulting. Founded in 1992 and listed on the Euronext Paris (ISIN code FR 00000 7895 8 / BND), the Group has a reputation for its functional and technological expertise and has forged partnerships with the key technology vendors. Business & Decision currently employs over 1,000 consultants throughout the United Kingdom, France, Benelux, Switzerland and Spain and has implemented over 1,200 projects at 850 client sites including the NHS, Scottish Widows, Barclaycard, HBOS plc, AXA, Unilever, Aviva, MBNA, Orange and Allianz Group. For more information, visit http://www.businessdecision.co.uk.