London, March 11, 2019 – Management and technology consultancy BearingPoint today announced record revenues of €739 million in 2018. The core Consulting business recorded 6% growth compared to 2017 with the software solutions business growing slightly slower than in previous years. BearingPoint remained strongly profitable even though the firm made significant investments. There was a smooth transition in leadership when longstanding executive Kiumars Hamidian took office as the new Managing Partner in September. Hamidian updated the strategy to navigate the firm through 2025 and put three areas into focus: markets, portfolio and people.
I am proud to report that we were able to continue our path of sustainable and profitable growth in 2018 and reached the highest revenue ever. It’s also fair to say that 2018 was a year of transition, not only because we had a well-prepared change in leadership, but also because we started to make adjustments to our long-term strategy. The execution of this strategy will allow for more success and further growth in the upcoming years.
Kiumars Hamidian, Managing Partner
Markets: expansion and recognition
BearingPoint further expanded in its European core territory. The regions FBA (France, Benelux, Africa) and UKI (United Kingdom, Ireland) stood out with strong growth far above the market average. The firm opened an office in Luxembourg where it has been supporting clients since 2001. BearingPoint also made a strategic move in the Belgian consulting market by acquiring Inpuls, a leading data specialist, thereby doubling its size in Belgium.
The UKI region performed extremely well in 2018, with both the UK and Ireland significantly outpacing market growth. Our strategy to focus on specific industry sectors has contributed to this success, with Ireland seeing growth in Financial Services and Healthcare, and the UK growing in Retail and Automotive. The first full year of the integration of LCP Consulting within the UK business has contributed to strong growth in Supply Chain and Operations engagements. Our continued investment in both our client and our employee value propositions has not only supported growth financially, but also contributed to our attractiveness as an employer with a 17% increase in employees across the region.
James Rodger, Partner and UKI Regional Lead
Market observers once more rewarded BearingPoint’s strengths. IDC recognized BearingPoint as a “Major Player” for capabilities and strategies in the “IDC MarketScape: EMEA Business Consulting Services 2018 Vendor Assessment,” and Gartner evaluated the firm as a Visionary in the Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and Customer Management for CSPs” for the third consecutive year. The firm was also honored for its technology solutions: it received the “Chartis RiskTech100® 2019” award, came out as the winner in the category “Best Solution in Tax Reporting” at the Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2018, and was also among the winners at the “FinTech & RegTech Global Awards 2018” by Central Banking.
Portfolio: ventures, innovation and business services
As part of its Ventures activities, BearingPoint made a strategic investment in Insignary, a global leader in binary-level open source software security and compliance, which had partnered with BearingPoint before. It marked the firm’s first time investing in an Asian start-up.
At the end of 2018, BearingPoint set-up a new Business Services unit offering IP services. BearingPoint Business Services combines the firm’s long consulting history, technology experience and scalable expert power to deliver managed services beyond SaaS. The unit has evolved from 20 years of project experience across industries and boasts 100 experts delivering services ranging from the Logistic Emission Calculator, LogEC, to HyperCube, a platform for advanced analytics and prediction.
Innovation was also driven by the internal “Be an Innovator” initiative, six innovation campaigns, and a shark tank event. The firm also ran an acclaimed “A New Things” innovation lab with clients from a variety of industries and geographies. Moreover, BearingPoint added ten new Accelerators, the firm’s proven technology packages with rapid market impact. Bookings through all its Accelerators amounted to €167 million.
People: employee experience and partnership
BearingPoint made over 1,100 new hires in 2018, demonstrating its attractiveness as employer of choice for top talent. To further ensure its attractiveness, the firm developed a new people strategy focusing on employee experience, including company culture, the interaction with leadership, the quality of the projects people work on and the environment they work in. The execution of this strategy was set in motion, both in local pilots and on a firm-wide level. BearingPoint also announced 21 new admissions to their partnership in Europe. 14 Partners were internally promoted, and 7 further Partners joined the firm, confirming BearingPoint’s commitment to the model of an independent partnership fully focused on client service.
About BearingPoint
BearingPoint is an independent management and technology consultancy with European roots and a global reach. The company operates in four units: Consulting, Solutions, Business Services, and Ventures. Consulting covers the advisory business; Solutions provides the tools for successful digital transformation, advanced analytics and regulatory requirements; Business Services provides managed services beyond SaaS; Ventures drives the financing and development of start-ups. BearingPoint’s clients include many of the world’s leading companies and organizations. The firm has a global consulting network with more than 10,000 people and supports clients in over 75 countries, engaging with them to achieve measurable and sustainable success.
Sophie Westmoreland
Marketing Manager
Tel. +44 20 7337 3065