Columbus IT Partner, a large Microsoft retailer in Europe, has sold its subsidiaries in France and Spain. The operations were purchased by Prodware, which in the words of one (largely English) press release: “Prodware blev etableret i 1989 og skaber, integrerer og hoster it-løsninger for virksomheder.” You can probably get the gist of that. That information was released as the company reported results for the third quarter ended September 31.
In an awkwardly worded description, Columbus IT reported that “It has also been decided to terminate the agreement with the Italian franchise partner as the number of activities has not been sufficient.” For the nine months, EBIDTA plunged while revenue had risen 2.3 percent. EBIDTA in the most recently ended quarter was about $36,500, down from $3.3 million a year earlier. Nine-month revenue was roughly $114.2 million, up from $111 million in last year’s corresponding period. All figures were translated from Danish kroner based on yesterday’s exchange rate. Revenue growth was reported for Russia, the United States and Norway, but numbers were not broken out. It’s hard to shake the feeling Columbus IT will eventually concentrate on its To-Increase software operations. In the first half of 2010, the company sold reselling operations in Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Germany and Switzerland to Alfapeople. The financial reports mentioned a rebranding project which supports the development of verticals as a factor in increasing costs.