Asseco CEO Adam Góral last week outlined his company’s plan to continue expansion, based on consolidation of smaller competitors. These acquisitions will take place in various countries around Europe.

“We don’t have large financial barriers. I’m not afraid to invest to the tune of $400 million over the course of two-three years. I don’t exclude interest in bourse-listed firms from other markets. We want to build strenuously and we’re not abandoning this strategy,” Mr Góral said at a press conference.

The IT firm has already risen to the top of the pile in the CEE region, following a spate of acquisitions. It is now in acquisition talks with 17 firms from Austria, Hungary, Italy and Spain, as well as firms from Southeastern Europe and Scandinavia.

However, the company is not ready to strike deals with larger competitors for the moment. “We won’t change our strategy of building around small companies, “ Mr Góral said.

“We started to analyze very big entities, but we are not ready for that now,” he added.

Asseco surpassed analysts’ expectations to post a 17 percent y/y net profit growth in H1. Operating profit rose to zł.138 million, from zł.120 million last year. Despite the success attributed to the company’s takeover strategy, sales of Asseco’s own software accounted for more than 50 percent of sales, due to the high profit margins.

The firm’s revenues fell to zł.707 million, from zł.753 million last year.

With the news of continued expansion and strong financial results, Asseco’s share price rose 4.2 percent on the day, making it the top performer on Warsaw’s WIG20 index. The firm’s share price reached its highest point in in 11 months. (Reuters)