After over a year silence on Sourcing Excellence, I have decided to it time to relaunch the blog. I will writing new blog posts on a weekly basis and also uploading video interviews from some of the people I meet during my day job of running the Procurement Intelligence Unit.
Content will be based mainly around the sourcing and procurement space with a few posts on technology for good measure.
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LONDON (Reuters) – Outsourcing group Xchanging beat expectations Monday with a 28 percent increase in 2008 profit and said it was confident of strong results in 2009 as the market continued to grow.
Xchanging, which specialises in financial services, reported Monday an adjusted operating profit of 49.7 million pounds on revenue 19 percent higher at 557.8 million pounds for 2008.
The group said the increase was thanks, in part, to large contract wins with Allianz Global Investors and Cooper Gay, and that companies had continued to farm out work to cut costs as the economic downturn worsened.
“We’re very confident on (forecasts) for 2009 as our (earnings) visibility is around 80 percent and we see the trend from a strong 2008 continuing into 2009,” Chief Executive David Andrews told Reuters in an interview.
The average of estimates analysts gave in a Reuters Estimate poll is 2009 operating profit at 65 million pounds.
Shares in Xchanging were 6.5 percent down at 189.75 pence by 12:51 p.m., with traders at Capital Spreads putting the fall down to “awful sentiment across the markets and probably not the results.”
Xchanging, which last year acquired 75 percent of Cambridge Solutions to boost its U.S. and Asian presence, increased its full-year dividend by a quarter to 2.5 pence.
The company said it also expects to benefit as cost conscious financial services groups outsource more securities, insurance and claims processing work in the coming years.
“There’s a huge potential market for business processing because there’s very low penetration and I think the current downturn is going to blow that wide open. We’re seeing some early signs of that and I think it will come to maturity over the next five years,” CEO Andrews said.
Teathers analyst Michael Donnelly said the strong processing volumes experienced throughout 2008 will drive growth higher than previous levels, and upgraded his 2009 sales and profit targets by 1 percent.
By Rhys Jones
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Ariba have announced the launch of a new generic driver that enables companies to procure services scross all spend categories more quickly and cost-effectively. Delivered on-demand as part of Ariba® Services Procurement™ via the Ariba Supplier Network™, the driver enables companies to configure an end-to-end process for procuring services across all spend categories from requisition, and collaboration through approval, receiving and invoicing.
“As the global financial crisis lingers, companies are aggressively pursuing opportunities to drive savings in previously untouchable indirect categories such as services,” said Rick Collison, Director, Solutions Management, Ariba. “To date, our services procurement solutions have helped companies create an efficient process for requisitioning temporary labor, consulting, marketing and print services. With our new generic driver, they can now do this across any category and convert opportunities for savings into bottom-line results.”
Using the solution, buyers can perform key actions through a single interface right from their desktops, including:
Leveraging the generic driver and the power of the Ariba network, companies can do this across any services spend category through a single interface, including: Laboratory/Research Services, Installation Services, Direct Mail & Fulfillment, Facilities and Creative Services, among others.
The full press release can be found at www.ariba.com
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