(AOF) – Sword revealed a 2023 Ebitda of 34.8 million euros, showing a margin of 12.1% compared to 12.5% in 2022. Excluding AAA and at constant scope and exchange rates, the margin of the IT group stood at 12.3% in 2023. Turnover reached 288.1 million euros, organic growth of 19%. Its reassessed business plan for 2024-2028 forecasts annual organic growth of around 15%, with stable profitability close to 12%.
Taking into account its portfolio of treasury shares, its cash position increased significantly, from 15.8 million euros as of June 30, 2023 to 32.6 million euros as of December 31, 2023.
The IT group will propose a dividend of 1.7 euros per share.
Sword will present a detailed strategic plan at our SFAF meeting on March 7 in Paris. Based on its projections, it envisages a turnover exceeding 320 million euros for 2024, thus continuing our organic growth dynamic.
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Moving forward in generative AI
Digital companies have already started to adapt their offers and practices to this development, which combines ChatGPT and information systems. The most developed use cases concern call centers with the intervention of chatbots or in marketing, to generate text or images automatically. The potential is enormous and Accenture France aims to achieve 30% of its activity with the data & AI niche by 2025. World market leader, Accenture has announced $3 billion in investment over three years in this area, with a doubling in the number of dedicated employees to reach 80,000 (out of 738,000 in total). As for the French leader in the sector, Capgemini, it is targeting an investment of 2 billion euros over the next three years, and 60,000 specialized employees (out of 360,000 currently).
Artificial intelligence now regulated in Europe
An attempt was made to find a balance between the desire to protect the fundamental rights of citizens and the desire not to restrict the development of European start-ups. The French and German associations of digital companies, Numeum and Bitkom, had also called for a European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI Act) favorable to innovation for AI in Europe and without overly restrictive rules, particularly for generative AI. The European approach is to impose obligations for high-risk AI systems, rated from low to unacceptable. For the regulation of generative AI (ChatGPT type systems), the EU has established stronger requirements for the most powerful models.