Sopra Steria, a France-based information consultancy and services firm, reported revenue on Friday of €4.09 billion for the full year 2018, an increase of 4.9% on an organic basis.

The group describes itself as providing one of the most comprehensive portfolios of end-to-end service offerings on the market: consulting, systems integration, software development, human resources, infrastructure management and business process services.

According to Sopra, changes in scope had a positive impact of €89.4 million, and currency fluctuations had a negative impact of €18.1 million. The group’s organic revenue growth was 4.9% year-on-year. Organic revenue growth in the fourth quarter stood at 5.5%.

Profit from recurring operations totalled €260.8 million. That includes a €22.8 million expense related to share-based payments (vs €21.2 million in 2017) as a result of the extension during 2018 of the ‘We Share’ employee share ownership plan and of the long-term incentive plan for the group’s senior managers.

Operating profit was €226.6 million after a net expense of €34.2 million for other operating income and expenses (compared with a net expense of €25.1 million in 2017), which included €30.0 million in reorganisation and restructuring expenses.

Net profit attributable to the group of €125.1 million (vs €172.5 million in 2017) including higher tax expense as a result of non-recurring items.

In France, revenue stood at €1.69 billion. Organic revenue growth was 4.7% over the full year and accelerated in the fourth quarter (6.5%). Business was driven by consulting, up more than 14%, and by cybersecurity, up more than 30%. The IT infrastructure management activities also moved back onto a growth trajectory.

In the UK, revenue was €783.1 million (down 0.1% organically compared with 2017). Organic revenue growth of the last two quarters (3rd and 4th quarter) was positive after six quarters of contraction. The group said efforts to rebuild in financial services commenced, with new clients already contributing more than half of revenue.

Sopra Banking Software’s revenue totalled €373.7 million, down 3.6% mainly due to an adjustment of the percentage of completion method on certain projects following delivery issues and lower licence revenue.

The Other Solutions reporting unit (Human Resource Solutions and Property Management Solutions) posted revenue of €241.8 million, representing organic growth of 2.7%. It strengthened its position in the French market for dedicated human resources solutions. The unit now processes the monthly payroll for approximately 800,000 employees, representing an increase of more than 10% over the year. It also received a boost from preparations for the introduction of income tax withholding in France.

Looking ahead, the group said its objectives for the 2019 financial year are organic revenue growth of between 4% and 6%, slight improvement in operating margin on business activity and free cash flow in excess of €150 million.

In trading on Friday, Sopra Steria shares closed at €106.90, up 17.8% on the day. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of €2.19 billion.