Electronic Data Systems Corp is looking forward to the new millennium with a renewed optimism founded on the strength of its European operations. Speaking at IDC’s European IT Forum in Paris – where EDS was announcing its European e-billing services – David Thorpe, CEO of EDS EMEA, said he believes that Plano, Texas-based EDS is on target to exceed the 14%-16% average revenue growth for its sector in 2000, with operating margins reaching at least 10%.
Europe looks like being central to the company’s expansion. European growth in EDS’s traditional business stood at 22% in the last six-month period with just under half of the company’s total order book of $8.6bn at the end of the half coming from the continent. The company plans to bolster this success further by making selected acquisitions in European countries where it is currently under-represented. It is also hoping to take advantage of the market opportunities brought about by the wave of corporate mergers currently happening in countries such as France, Italy and Germany. However, EDS acknowledges that it could also lose customers in the restructuring and will therefore also seek business transformation and systems integration contracts with smaller firms.
EDS reports that it is currently negotiating with the UK’s Department of Social Security, and the Bradford and Bingley building society for outsourcing contracts. It is also discussing contracts with a number of telecoms companies including Hungary’s Matav and an unnamed French telecoms operator. In addition to this, EDS says it also wants a part of the expanding market for convergent IT, telephony and broadcast solutions.
While this may all be good news for the company itself, it may not seem so for its employees. Thorpe said there will be further job losses as CEO Dick Brown continues his restructuring. EDS has already shed some 5,200 jobs since Brown’s appointment in January 1999.
