NRB has just acquired s.p.r.l. UCON, an SAP services company. This targeted acquisition is completely in line with NRB’s strategy to strengthen the SAP strike force of the NRB Group as it completes its SAP portfolio, predominantly in the field of SAP IS-U and FI-CA (*), its capacities with scarce SAP specialists, and its customer base with additional key customers in the sector of public utilities.
Founded in 2005 and based in Diegem, UCON is active in the public utilities market in Belgium. UCON offers a wide range of SAP IS-U & FI-CA services. Its experts are assisting their customers in developing and maintaining solutions for data exchange with the clearing house, smart meters, and intelligent networks, next to solutions for pricing, billing, financial management, and logistics.
In 2017, UCON achieved revenues of 3.6 million euros, with an EBIT of 11%. Further to its experienced managers, it relies on a team of about twenty five collaborators (employees and external consultants) with solid expertise in the area of utilities.
This acquisition is in line with the business development plan for its SAP activities, as described in NRB’s industrial plan 2017-2022. The NRB Group wants to equip itself with a major SAP strike force – in terms of solution portfolio and resources - to be ready to respond to the new opportunities linked to the liberalisation and digitalisation of the energy markets (IoT, smart metering, smart grid,…). “The expertise of UCON's teams, particularly in SAP IS-U, will already enable NRB to respond to major requests for tenders in the utilities market today. At the same time, UCON customers will be able to benefit from the other services and solutions of NRB's current portfolio” states Peter Pijpops, one of the three managing directors of UCON.
“Both companies have indeed very complementary assets”, as to Pascal Laffineur, CEO of the NRB Group. “NRB offers its customers – SAP certified – ICT infrastructure & cloud services including a platform “HANA-as-a-Service”, next to a team with a proven record in the implementation of SAP ERP, S/4 HANA projects in healthcare, industry and the public and utilities sector,whereas UCON is a niche player with cutting edge expertise in SAP-Industry Solutions for Utilities.” “Together we will certainly be able, not only to widen and strengthen our joint SAP capacities, but, taking into account UCON’s current customer base and geographical scope, we will certainly be able to extend our SAP activities into the entire Belgian and Luxembourg markets.”
UCON remains a separate specific entity, a subsidiary of NRB S.A. In operational terms, it becomes a NRB service line, in the same way as the SAP Services division. It will rely on NRB's sales & marketing capacities to commercialise its solutions.
(*) IS-U: Industry Solution for Utilities, FI-CA: Financial Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable
