Sopra Steria experienced a surge in shares following the announcement of its strategic plans to sell a significant portion of its banking-software operations to Axway Software and reduce its stake in Axway. The market reacted with Sopra Steria’s shares rising by 10% to EUR233.40, while Axway’s shares saw a decline of 11% to EUR26.40 during Thursday trading.
Banking Software Operations Acquisition
The French consulting and digital-services company revealed its decision late Wednesday to sell most of its banking-software operations to Axway for an enterprise value of 330 million euros ($357 million), including debt. These operations contribute approximately EUR340 million in annual sales to Sopra Steria.
Moreover, Sopra Steria expressed its intention to offload a portion of its shares in Axway to Sopra GMT, the controlling shareholder of Axway and a key stakeholder in Sopra Steria, for EUR95.9 million. This involves the sale of 3.6 million Axway shares at EUR26.5 each, out of a total holding of 6.9 million shares by Sopra Steria.
Capital Increase and Financial Results
In preparation for the acquisition of the banking-software assets, Axway disclosed its plans for a capital increase. Sopra GMT is set to secure 53% of the newly issued shares through subscription, supported by private-equity company One Equity Partners.
On a separate note, Sopra Steria’s 2023 financial results came slightly below consensus estimates. Despite experiencing a 14% increase in revenue to reach EUR5.81 billion, the net profit took a 26% dip compared to 2022, landing at EUR183.7 million.
Analysts had initially projected revenue to be at EUR5.77 billion, operating profit at EUR411.5 million, and net profit at EUR271 million, based on a consensus compiled by Visible Alpha.
