4 Feb 2022 14:23
Softline Holding PLC
(The "Company")
Softline strengthens global offering and ramps up business in India with acquisition of market-leading cloud services firm Umbrella Infocare
This announcement contains inside information.
London, 04 February 2022 - Softline (LSE: SFTL), the global IT and digital transformation solutions provider, today announces the signing of an agreement to acquire Delhi-based cloud services company Umbrella Infocare, in line with the Company's three-dimensional growth strategy. The deal will significantly grow Softline's presence in the territory while seriously strengthening its cloud services offering for its global customer base.
This acquisition, together with its existing expertise, will form the basis for creating Softline's global AWS Centre of Excellence (CoE) for customers in almost 60 countries, giving them access to market leading cloud engineering and development services.
Founded in 2012, Umbrella Infocare specialises in cloud technologies with its 200+ strong team offering rich and very advanced services expertise in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Citrix solutions. Umbrella Infocare is an AWS Premier Consulting Partner with competencies in AWS Managed Services, Migration and DevOps and it also has Platinum Plus Consulting partnership with Citrix. Through this acquisition Softline Group now has capabilities to provide AWS Managed Services to its customers in India and across the Globe.
In addition to strengthening Softline's services portfolio, this deal also demonstrates Softline's ambition to continue its phenomenal pace of growth in India, where public cloud services market is expected by IDC to grow at a CAGR of 21.5% for 2020-251. In recent years, Softline has established itself as a major multi-cloud player in the country, growing 120x organically since 2014, with revenues of over $230m in 2020. With its continued focus on India as a priority market, last year Softline acquired Indian IT consultancy Embee, a leader in providing Microsoft cloud transformation solutions in India.
Igor Borovikov, the Founder and Chairman of Softline Group commented: "We told our investors that we would be making smart acquisitions where we can effectively amplify the capabilities available in emerging markets. This is an example of such an acquisition as in line with our three-dimensional growth strategy. We have not only strengthened our geographical presence in India and our services portfolio with some very advanced cloud engineering skills now available to us, but we also can now leverage those talents and knowledge to provide services elsewhere through our sales channel."
Sergey Chernovolenko, CEO of Softline Group, said: "The skills that the highly sophisticated and trusted engineering team of Umbrella Infocare will bring to us are in high demand around the world. We now have the critical mass to create and grow multiple times a global AWS CoE. Thanks to this deal, we are now in a better position than ever to provide deep expertise in AWS and Citrix and to be a cloud transformation services market leader for tens of thousands of companies around the world making vital cloud-first transformations.
"Also, very importantly, India is a crucial market for Softline Group and this acquisition demonstrates our absolute commitment to offering the best solutions to our growing customer base in the country, and our ambition to become the number one provider of cloud and cybersecurity services and solutions.
"Umbrella Infocare's brilliant team of cloud-native engineers and specialists joins Softline at a pivotal time, when digital transformation underpinned by cloud technologies can no longer be seen as an afterthought by businesses around the world, but as an essential journey."
Gurprit Singh and Sanjay Agarwal, co-founder and managing partners, Umbrella Infocare said: "We are delighted to be joining Softline at this crucial moment in its growth story and look forward to becoming part of its global A team. Joining our forces will allow us to offer our services to customers in many countries beyond India. The transformation drive, further catalysed by the pandemic means that companies can no longer sit back and carry on as before. They need to embark on those business-critical cloud journeys to ensure that their businesses can remain competitive."
1https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP47856521
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Media ContactEve Fraylingeve.frayling@pagefield.co.uk+44 (0)7896 540438 or Softline@pagefield.co.uk
About Softline
Softline is a leading global solutions and services provider in digital transformation and cybersecurity, with its headquarters in London. The Company enables, facilitates and accelerates the digital transformation of its customers' businesses, connecting over 150,000 organisations from all industries with over 6,000 best-in-class IT vendors, and delivering its own services and solutions. Foundation of Softline's growth is so-called three-dimensional strategy, which includes geographic, portfolio and sales channel expansion. This strategy is supported by energetic M&A activity, so Softline is benefiting from the on-going consolidation of the industry.
Thanks to this strategy, Softline is currently one of the fastest growing companies in the sector. Softline achieved a turnover of US$1.8 billion in the fiscal year of 2020. In October 2021, the Company listed on the London and Moscow stock exchanges. Since the end of fiscal year 2020, Softline has acquired several companies with the total annual turnover of roughly US$200 million.
Softline's 6,500 employees work in almost 60 countries throughout Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa - markets with significant growth potential. The Company delivers a comprehensive range of IT solutions and is at the centre of the digital transformation megatrend.
About Umbrella Infocare
Umbrella Infocare is an AWS Premier Consulting Partner with 5 AWS competencies and programmes including DevOps, Managed Services and Cloud Migration having very strong presence in India-headquartered customers across multiple continents.
Rapidly growing Cloud and Digital transformation enabler, with focus on high growth technologies like Big Data, Containers, Serverless, Microservices and DevOps. Established in 2012 as a "Born in Cloud" company has now grown to a 200+ strong organisation with deep emphasis on superior skill set and customer success. Umbrella has marked itself as a technology leader, with their expertise, agility and sharp customer focus.
Umbrella Infocare team has worked with 250+ customers across various industries and has completed more than 300 Cloud deployments. Umbrella's team consists of seasoned experts with advanced knowledge and experience in leading cloud technologies and complex, scalable architectures.