•   Top 500 European Solution VARs grow 7% in the last year to generate combined revenues of €27 billion ($38bn)

(London – 27 April 2010) European Solution VARs have generally enjoyed a strong year and have proved resilient in the face of recessionary pressures. In 2009, the last full year for which accounts are available, revenues for the top 500 European Solution VARs, which between them employed 146,650 staff, increased by 7% to €26.94bn ($37.55bn). But beneath the overall growth numbers there has been a considerable degree of structural change with high rates of consolidation and a number of business failures. As a consequence around half the top 500 are new names when compared to the 2006 edition of the report. These are amongst the findings from “Solution VARs in Europe – The Top 500”, the latest database report from IT Europa which is published today.

The database report, which provides detailed business profiles of each of the top 500 European Solution VARS, provides further evidence that it is solutions rather than hardware that is driving IT sales in Europe. Revenues were up in 24 of the 32 countries represented within the report, with Denmark the best performer followed by Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Italy. Only 7 countries showed a decline in revenues with Ireland worse hit (-20.63%) followed by Sweden, Croatia, France, Lithuania, Greece and Norway. The region’s largest markets, Germany and the UK, showed revenue increases of 5.96% and 5.66% respectively.

In terms of individual companies, holding company c.a.r.u.s. Information Technology AG comes out on top, ahead of rising star Spanish Indra, the acquisitive Atea ASA (formerly known as Ementor ASA) and Bechtle AG.
IT Europa research manager Auri Aittokallio says: “Solution VARs see their biggest strength in being able to act as a one stop IT provider for customers who are battling ever-increasing con¬straints in terms of time and resource. The overall increase in staff numbers amongst the top 500, up 27,591 (19%) over the last four years reflects the increasing importance of services within this sector.

The “Solution VARs in Europe – The Top 500” database report spans 32 countries and represents the most detailed view available of this key market sector. It has been compiled from detailed interviews conducted by IT Europa’s own research team. The company profiles include sales breakdowns by company activity, which markets a company operates in, and detailed information on staff numbers and development plans, along with contact details for the top executives of each company. The report is available from IT Europa (www.iteuropa.com) at a cost of £2,350 for a single-user licence and £7,050 for a multi-user licence.