28 July 2005

The organic growth for this period (1 January-30 June 2005) is 36%, which is well above the growth rate of the IT services market. International activities (from countries outside of France) accounted for 27% of the consolidated sales revenue for the six month period.

The first half of the year was marked by a high level of sales activity from the French and European subsidiaries and also saw an increase in sales orders from all market sectors. Business & Decision’s reputation as a French and European leader in Business Intelligence (which represents two-thirds of the Group’s activities) and as a specialist in CRM and E-Business (where the Group is seen as a leading integrator), ensures that they are well positioned to work within enterprise accounts in France, the UK and Benelux.

"Our reputation within enterprise accounts has helped increase our volume of sales, our average sales order value and also our frequency of sales" commented Patrick Bensabat, Chairman of Business & Decision.

With a significant increase on expectations, the Business & Decision Group now has well over 1,000 employees: 700 employees in Ile-de-France (Paris and surrounding areas), 200 employees in French regions (through subsidiaries in Aix-in-Provence, Caen, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Nantes and Toulouse) and approximately 300 employees throughout the rest of Europe (including approximately 100 employees in both the UK and Benelux regions).

Business & Decision plan to recruit over 100 new consultants during the second half of 2005.

Business & Decision has adhered to their strategy of external growth through targeted acquisitions. In April, the Group acquired Nexhos (a company based in Benelux who specialise in business intelligence, CRM and enterprise web portals), in May Domino Systems was acquired (a company based in the UK who provide innovative web based solutions) and in June the Group acquired Métaphora (a company based in France who specialise in change relating to the implementation of new IT platforms - 16% of Métaphora’s capital remains listed on the Euronext Paris).

These acquisitions are expected to account for approximately €7.5million of sales revenue during 2005, and will impact the Groups performance during the second half of 2005.

"Looking at our recorded results for the first half of 2005 and the number of orders we have in our pipeline, we expect to reach our target of €100million in 2006 and this will have a positive impact on our profit margins. We hope to reach a sales turnover of €150million by 2008", concluded Patrick Bensabat.

In Business Intelligence, the Group has been recognised by two partners: Cognos (for the quality of consultancy projects and leadership vision in the marketplace) and SAS (for promoting innovative solutions in the finance sector – especially in the area of risk management).

In E-Business, the Group saw their expertise presented with awards for the design, development and creation of websites (for the General Council of Vaucluse and the Regional Council of the Languedoc-Roussillon region) and for a collaborative intranet deployed for the product manufacturer César (awarded the 2005 trophy by the weekly publication Décision informatique).

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