• eaga Awarded L200m CERT Management Contract by Scottish Power

  Jul 04, 2008 | Contracts by John Willmott
  industry: Utilities

  eaga has been awarded a 3-year £200m contract by Scottish Power to manage the company's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) obligations.

  Analyst comments:

  eaga, in its first year as a public company, is extremely well-placed to take advantage of green support services incorporating residential energy efficiency services.

  This contract with Scottish Power follows eaga's establishment of CERT framework agreements with the major six energy suppliers in the U.K. All U.K. energy suppliers have regulatory obligations under CERT and eaga estimates that CERT-related spending will total £3Bn by 2011. eaga is particularly well-placed to support low income and elderly households and is looking to extend its range of CERT-related services further.

• Atos Origin Awarded Major Smart Metering Pilot Contract by EDRF

  Jul 03, 2008 | Contracts by Rachael Stormonth
  industry: Utilities

  Atos Origin has been awarded a contract by EDF's French electricity distribution subsidiary ERDF to be overall integrator in a consortium managing a pilot trial to replace 300,000 meters in France with smart meters.

  The pilot is for a major program in which EDF is looking to replace 35 million electricity meters in France with smart meters over a 10-year period. The contract has an option to maintain the system at the end of the pilot phase.
  
  Services to be provided by Atos Origin include:

  • Design and development of the Automated Meter Management (AMM) IT system
  • Management of a consortium comprising meter manufacturers, software application developers and infrastructure providers.

  ERDF has selected the Power Line Carrier (PLC) protocol for the project. This protocol enables metering hardware interoperability and sourcing of equipment from different vendors. Atos Origin has created a PLC Certification Lab which will test the compatibility of all new equipment.

  Analyst comments:

  This is a major win for Atos Origin: EDF's intention to install 35 million smart meters will make it the largest automated metering infrastructure (AMI) program in Europe to date.

  Atos Origin's relationship with EDF has to date focused on its nuclear power program.

  The replacement of 35 million meters is expected to cost EDRF c. €4Bn, of which approximately:

  • €2Bn for the installation done by ERDF
  • €1.9Bn for equipment
  • €100m for the IT system to be developed by Atos Origin.

  The experience in developing the IT system and in acting as lead manager in what is in itself a sizeable pilot will position Atos Origin very strongly for other smart metering opportunities in Europe. Other vendors with experience in smart metering projects in Europe include IBM (e.g. Oxxio) and Logica (e.g. RWE npower), and in North America include IBM again (4 deployments to date), Capgemini (e.g. Hydro One), and Accenture (e.g. Baltimore Gas & Electric).

  In addition to the IT services around AMI, there is also longer term a major BPO opportunity for vendors possessing the appropriate capabilities.

• Océ Business Services Announces Fiscal Q2 2008 Revenues Up 5.4% to €104m

  Jul 03, 2008 | Financial Results by Rachael Stormonth
  

  Océ Business Services has announced fiscal Q2 2008 revenues (for the period ending May 31st 2008) of €104.2m, representing 5.4% organic year-over-year growth.

  Operating income was €2.5m (compared to a negative income of €4.4m in the prior year quarter), representing an operating margin of 2.4%.

  The Océ Group overall reported revenues of €704.7, down 9.3% year-over-year, representing negative organic revenue growth of 2.3%. Operating income of the group was €9.2m, representing an operating margin of 1.3%, compared with an operating margin of 3.7% in the prior year period.

  Analyst comments:

  Océ Business Services was launched as a reportable segment in Q1 2008, and now represents one sixth of total group revenues.

  It is the only SBU within the Océ Group which achieved revenue growth this quarter:

  • The slowdown in the construction sector impacted sales of wide format printers in the Wide Format Printing Systems (WFPS) SBU
  • Developments in the financial sector impacted sales of continuous feed systems in the Digital Document Systems (DDS) SBU.

  In response to this quarter's disappointing performance, the Océ Group is expanding its savings program announced in April:

  • The initial plan targeted cost avings of €80m in 2008 and the rationalization of 350 jobs: in H1 2008 savings of €20m were achieved and 80% of the rationalization has been completed
  • Océ Group is now targeting cost savings, of a further €50m in 2009. This involves the rationalization of an additional 600 positions.

  The performance of Océ Business Services, which brings in recurring revenues, is critical to the group's success.

• Sogeti Partners with Dassaut Systems to Develop Vertical-Specific PLM Solutions

  Jul 03, 2008 | New Offerings by Dominique Raviart
  industry: Aerospace

  Sogeti, the local professional services arm of Capgemini, has signed an agreement with Dassault Systems to provide vertical market-specific solutions. Dassault is a France-based ISV providing CAx and PLM software. Sogeti and Dassault have started working on common solution for the aerospace industry called Aircraft Structural Optimization. The solution targets level 1 suppliers to aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus.

  Analyst comments:

  Sogeti is servicing aerospace clients, largely through its business unit, Sogeti High Tech, that provides R&D services. The unit's main client is EADS and Airbus in particular. It recently has been selected by Airbus as one of its 28 preferred suppliers, from a total of 300 suppliers already working with Airbus.

  The partnership with Dassault Systems fits the strategy of Sogeti in three ways:

  • Provide specialized services, away from generic staff augmentation
  • Focus around key partnership: Sogeti currently derives c. a third of its revenues from partnerships with Microsoft and IBM. Such partnerships are growing at double-digit pace
  • Expand in R&D services from one main client to several and reduce risk.

• HP Announces Expiration of Waiting Period for EDS Acquisition

  Jun 30, 2008 | Mergers and Acquisitions by Eamonn Kennedy
  

  HP has announced that the waiting period relating to its acquisition of EDS has expired without any requests for additional information from the U.S. Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission.

  EDS stockholder approval and regulatory approval from the European Commission are still pending.

  Analyst comments:

  A proxy statement filed by EDS with the SEC confirms that the initial discussion between the respective CEOs of EDS and HP took place in November 2007. That discussion, in addition to potential partnership arrangements, included the potential acquisition of HP Services by EDS.

  During a subsequent discussion in December 2007, HP declined to pursue EDS' suggestion to acquire HP Services but proposed its own acquisition of EDS. By March 2008, this resulted in an indicative offer being made by HP to pay $22 - $25 per share for EDS stock. In May 2008, HP made a best and final offer to acquire EDS for $25 per share and this is the offer that is now recommended by the EDS board.

  EDS stockholders are due to vote on the acquisition on 31 July 2008. A majority vote to accept HP's offer is likely to see the deal finalized before the end of 2008.

• IBM Launches Corporate Social Responsibility Assessment Service

  Jun 30, 2008 | New Offerings by Rachael Stormonth
  

  IBM has launched a consulting service, the IBM Corporate Social Responsibility Benchmarking Utility, to assist organizations in assessing their approach to corporate social responsibility.

  In particular, IBM is aiming to assist organizations in assessing:

  • Whether they're currently treating CSR as an expense or an investment
  • The effectiveness of their environmental policies, labor practices, regulatory compliance, corporate values, and other CSR-related activities, and where they may have gaps
  • How well they engage customers and other stakeholders to understand their concerns and to communicate CSR performance.

  IBM can offer assistance in a range of CSR areas, including:

  • Carbon footprint analysis and management
  • Environmental procurement
  • CSR policy development and monitoring for suppliers
  • Green data centers
  • Information sharing and engagement with customers, shareholders, regulators and advocacy groups
  • Linking philanthropy to corporate strategy
  • Diversity and labor practices
  • Engagement with employees on CSR.

  Analyst comments:

  Organizations will be increasing their investment in CSR activities over the next few years, seeing CSR not just as a regulatory imperative but also presenting opportunities for revenue growth and competitive differentiation.

  IBM is positioning as a leading services provider in this area, and points to its own CSR initiatives which range from procurement, to global employment standards and workforce diversity, to Green IT.

  This new consulting offering provides a CSR strategy assessment and roadmap . The benchmarking utility is based on data from an IBM CSR survey of C-level execs at 250+ companies in which over 75% of the executives suveyed claimed ignorance of their customers' concerns about CSR.

  The offering complements IBM's focus on the Green IT agenda and provides an entry point to a range of services. IBM's Green IT initiatives include:

  • "Project Big Green": an initiative announced in May 2007 to invest $1Bn annually to products and services that can increase the energy efficiency of the average data center by up to 42%
  • "Cool Blue" portfolio: technologies and solutions to reduce the heat produced by servers and improve management of their energy use.

• Northgate Launches Services to Assist Social Housing Providers in Generating Energy Performance Certificates

  Jun 30, 2008 | New Offerings by John Willmott
  industry: Local Government

  Northgate has launched services to assist social housing providers in generating energy performance certificates (EPCs) for their homes.

  The services range from support for in-house development of EPCs to an outsourced service for production of EPCs. The service elements offered include:

  • Membership of Northgate's energy assessor accreditation scheme
  • Northgate's accredited software for energy assessors
  • Access to EPC data, through integration with housing management information
  • Access to providers for training energy assessors
  • Optional mobile services for energy assessors, enabling them to capture information on-site
  • An outsourced service that provides access to energy assessors, monitored by the Northgate accreditation scheme.

  Analyst comments:

  Northgate, like IBM and eaga, has recognized that supporting organizations in improving their energy efficiency is a major opportunity in PR terms as well as in revenue and is addressing the opportunities arising from green issues in its own way, in this case through support for social housing providers.

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Rachael Stormonth

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