Contact: Jo Ouvry
Deloitte
Public Relations
+44 (0) 20 7303 0587

Newell & Budge, one of the UK’s leading and fastest growing IT consultancy companies, has today announced its plans to merge with the UK operation of Sopra Group. Newell & Budge will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sopra Group SA. Sopra Group is a European leader in IT consulting, systems integration and application outsourcing. The planned transaction has been announced today and is subject to employee consultation by Sopra in France in accordance with domestic legal process. The Corporate Finance team at Deloitte acted as exclusive financial advisor to Newell & Budge on the transaction.

Simon Russell, technology M&A specialist at Deloitte, comments:
“Many European and international IT groups are looking at the UK as a relative bright spot for technology spending. Leading market positions cannot be established overnight hence inorganic growth is a necessity for market entry or expansion. Businesses with strong positions in key markets such as financial services, telecoms and government are of particular interest, as acquirers look for growth through vertical focus and niche offerings.”

“Sector consolidation continues to gather pace within the software and IT services market with acquirers looking for both scale and specialist expertise. The UK sector is seeing significant M&A interest from major international groups and private equity funds, with deal activity in the IT services and software industry up by 46% in 2005 compared with the same timeframe in 2004*. Indeed, in our own practice we have completed three IT services sales in the last six months and we expect IT services M&A activity to remain very robust through 2005 and into 2006.”

Newell & Budge is one of the UK’s leading and fastest growing IT consultancy and services companies. Ann Budge co-founded the company in 1985 after a successful career in IT at F I Group (now Xansa) and previously as the first female IT executive at Scottish & Newcastle. Ann led a management buy-out of Newell & Budge in 2001, backed by 3i. Under Ann’s strong leadership, the company is now entering its 20th year in business and, despite the continuing intense margin pressure across the whole industry, has continued to maintain its year-on-year revenue growth and strong profitability. Newell & Budge is on target to deliver another solid operational performance in 2005, with projected revenue figures of between £37m to £38m, a rate of 20% growth year on year. The firm has strong consulting, information security, testing and offshore businesses targeting growing customer demand from the central government, health service, criminal justice, finance, travel and utility sectors.

^{*MergerMarket statistics comparing European cross-border transactions between 01/01/4 – 01/06/04 and 01/01/05 – 01/06/05.}

Ends

Notes to Editor:

The sale of Newell & Budge Holdings Limited is the third completed sale in IT services in the last six months by the TMT corporate finance team at Deloitte. In February 2005, the team advised the shareholders of Vivista Holdings Limited on the divestment to SunGard Data Systems Inc and, in December 2004, advised on the FoxIT Managed Services merger with Digica.

About Sopra Group Ltd (www.sopragroup.co.uk)
Sopra Group Ltd is the UK subsidiary of Sopra Group SA, one of Europe's leading IT solution providers. Sopra Group Ltd specialises in Business Consultancy and Systems Integration and focuses on eBusiness, Business Intelligence, CRM consultancy, ERP integration, EAI, Application Management and migration projects. This requires the combination of consulting and systems integration services with in-depth knowledge of the major application solutions available on the market.

Sopra Group Ltd's client base includes major players within the financial, telecoms, utilities, manufacturing and public sectors. Clients include: Axa, Birmingham City Council, BSI Group, British Gas, LIFFE, Messiers Dowty, National Australia Group, National Grid, PITO, Roche Products, Scania GB, STA Travel and West Lothian Council.

About Deloitte:

In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is the UK's fastest growing major professional services firm based in 21 UK locations, with over 10,000 staff nationwide and fee income of £1,246 million in 2003/2004. It is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a leading professional services organisation, delivering world class audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance services, with around 120,000 people in over 140 countries. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.