adesso sets up subsidiaries in Sweden and Denmark / Expansion in Northern Europe through acquisition of Purple Scout AB in Sweden

adesso is further expanding its presence in northern Europe. The two new adesso Group subsidiaries in Sweden and Denmark will join adesso in Finland. adesso Sweden and adesso Denmark will build on the complete acquisition of Purple Scout, which was now contractually fixed. With some 60 employees, the profitable and like adesso strongly growing IT company achieves revenues of about EUR 6 million. Present at five locations it will provide an ideal economic basis for the further expansion of adesso's international business activities with a focus on Northern Europe. A mid-single-digit million euro amount was agreed as the total purchase price, corresponding to an EBIT multiple of around eight.

The continuity of the successful business operations is ensured the two main shareholders of Purple Scout, CEO Johan Strömhage and Helena Bendz, manager of the Malmö location, who will continue to manage the company in the framework of the adesso Group in the proven style. In addition to Malmö, the adesso Group gains the Swedish business locations in Gothenburg, Borås and Växjö as well as one in the Danish capital of Copenhagen as starting points for further regional growth. adesso has been marketing its portfolio in northern Europe since the summer of last year through adesso Nordics in Espoo/Helsinki. Together with the new subsidiaries adesso Sweden and adesso Denmark as well as the expanded capacities within the adesso Group, now an advantageous size for adesso-typical projects is achieved.

Founded in 2004, Purple Scout AB is considered a specialist in the fields of Java development, cloud migration, artificial intelligence, big data, virtual and augmented reality, e-commerce and DevOps. Dirk Pothen, a member of the Executive Board at adesso SE and the listed company's head of internationalisation efforts, explains the move: "We have come to know Purple Scout as a very vital and growth-oriented company with a lot of experience and a very good footprint in the Swedish-Danish market. Purple Scout's software experts are also an excellent fit with adesso's corporate culture. I am sure that this will provide us with an excellent basis for the further expansion of our business in Northern Europe."

For Johan Strömhage, CEO of Purple Scout, the decision to partner up with a leading IT service provider with a successful track record over the past 25 years is a tremendous opportunity for his entire team: "Being part of a strong adesso Group, with its more than 5,800 employees across Europe, puts us in a position to offer our clients in Scandinavia exciting IT projects on a larger scale than was possible for us in the past as a smaller business. This also gives all of our employees vast opportunities to connect and increase their own competence within their field using their new colleagues. We look forward to working with our new colleagues and are excited about the rapid expansion of our team at our offices in Sweden and Denmark."

The new adesso subsidiaries in Sweden and Denmark will initially focus on the industries of telecommunication, retail, financial services and manufacturing. With adesso Sweden and adesso Denmark, the adesso Group is now present in twelve countries in Europe. The additions bring adesso another step closer to its goal of becoming a leading IT service provider throughout Europe.

 

adesso Group

With more than 5,800 employees and annual sales of EUR 678.3 million in 2021, adesso Group is one of the largest German IT service providers with outstanding growth opportunities. At its own locations in Germany, other locations in Europe and Turkey as well as at numerous local customers adesso offers consulting and software development services for optimising core business processes. adesso also offers ready-to-use software products for standard applications. The development of an own, industry-specific product portfolio opens up additional growth and earnings opportunities and is another key element of the adesso strategy. In 2020, adesso was awarded the title of the best employer of its size in Germany across all industries. After having already achieved first place among IT employers in 2016 and 2018, adesso was ranked first again in 2020.