The European IT sector continues its slow slide – but it still looks relatively buoyant compared to the picture elsewhere. The overall growth rate for IT vendors, as measured by the Infoconomy EuroIndex, dropped for the eighth consecutive month during January 2002, to 14.4%, down from 14.9% the previous month. Though falling steadily, the pace still looks strong when compared with the US-dominated global index that, at -13.3%, shows deep recession.
Negative influences on the index came from both well-established and relatively early-stage European tech companies. In the multi-billion-euro league, IT consultancy Cap Gemini reported that its revenues shrank by 2%, while revenues at network equipment maker Madge fell by half. There were also high double-digit sales declines at optical chip maker Bookham, ecommerce software house Izodia and security software vendor nCipher.
Other bad sales news came from electronic device maker Pace Micro, development software vendor Merant, supply chain software vendors Kewill and Industri Matematik, entertainment software company Eidos and systems integrator Heyde. There was also a 13% drop in sales at firewall market leader Check Point Software. However, a few vendors kept the index from falling further. Customer relationship management vendor Eyretel reported a 27% rise in revenues, financial software specialists Sage said its revenues for its fiscal 2001 rose 17%, and network systems distributor and integrator Azlan said revenues grew 14%.
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