COGNICASE Chooses Calgary as its Western Canada
Headquarters - Montreal Based IT Solutions Company Plans
Aggressive Western Expansion
JUNE 22, 1999
CALGARY, ALBERTA--
Recently acquired Korum Technologies to form COGNICASE Calgary
base of operations
COGNICASE Inc. (Nasdaq: "COGI"), one of Canada's fastest growing
information technology and software solutions companies, today
announced it has chosen Calgary as its new base of operations to
lead its expansion into western Canada.
The company also announced that it will rename its recent
acquisition, Korum Technologies, under the COGNICASE brand.
"Our new western Canada headquarters will allow us to better
support and serve our customers as we expand our business to the
west," said Ronald Brisebois, president and chief executive
officer of COGNICASE. "Calgary is a growing centre for high
technology and IT services. For this reason, we feel Calgary and
COGNICASE are a natural fit."
Incorporated in 1996, Korum Technologies is a Calgary based
consulting firm specializing in information technology. With more
than 30 consultants, Korum's strong Calgary based client list
includes Amoco Canada, Pan Canadian, Computing Devices Canada, and
The City of Calgary. In its second year of business, Korum billed
over $3 million. "This acquisition marks the beginning of a new era - we are
excited to be part of COGNICASE's plans for growth in Calgary and
across western Canada, " said Ashley Burns, former chief executive
officer of Korum Technologies and Calgary general manager for
COGNICASE. "This deal benefits both our companies. Our clients
will now benefit from COGNICASE's complete service offering. It
is a win-win situation."
The Montreal based company plans to rapidly expand the Calgary
office over the next 12 months. Over the past year, COGNICASE has
grown rapidly throughout Canada and Europe.
"Our Calgary expansion will be generated through further
acquisitions and organic growth," said Gilbert Boileau, executive
vice president, North America of COGNICASE. "Our model of success
in Montreal, Ottawa and Paris has been to identify attractive
acquisition targets and merge them with COGNICASE - enabling us to
offer a comprehensive suite of IT services and software solutions."
"To succeed in attracting large scale IT projects in Calgary,
COGNICASE will need a critical mass of talent. We recognize the
requirement to expand rapidly," added Mr. Boileau.
On April 29, the company announced its revenues increased by 249
percent to US$36,028,000 in the second quarter of fiscal 1999
compared to US$10,319,000 in the corresponding period in 1998.
During the second quarter and subsequently, five acquisitions were
completed, three in Canada and two in France. The aggregate
annual revenues of these five companies prior to acquisition
totalled about US$40 million.
Since its initial public offering in fall of 1997, COGNICASE has
made 14 company acquisitions. About COGNICASE Inc.
Founded in 1991, COGNICASE is an international provider of
value-added information technology consulting services, solutions
and software. The company offers a full range of IT solutions
including complete and partial outsourcing, WEB/E-commerce
development, ERP implementation, client/server application
development, network architecture, management and development of
client/server software, Web-based development tools, as well as
software for automated internet application conversion and
platform migration. The company has over 2,300 professionals
serving customers from offices located in 15 cities in North
America, Europe and Australia. |
