GOFORE PLC COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT, INSIDE INFORMATION, 18 FEBRUARY 2021 AT 11.20
Gofore strengthens its digital transformation advisory services by acquiring CCEA Limited
Gofore Plc and the sellers of CCEA Ltd. have signed an agreement whereby Gofore will acquire 95% of the share capital of CCEA Ltd., a company specialising in change execution consulting. With the acquisition, in line with its strategy, Gofore will strengthen its position as an adviser and main service provider in large digital transformation projects. It is planned that the acquisition will be implemented on 1 March 2021.
CCEA Ltd. provides expert services and consulting on executing demanding change processes, managing change portfolios and developing change capabilities. In these services the company is leading in Finland and currently employs approximately 50 experts at its offices in Espoo and Singapore. CCEA Ltd.’s extensive customer base includes many of Finland’s largest internationally operating companies, such as Outokumpu, Neste, and KONE.
CCEA Ltd.’s revenue was EUR 5.2 million and EBITDA was EUR 1.1 million in 2020. The acquisition also include Celkee Ltd., a fully-owned subsidiary of CCEA Ltd. specialising in measuring change, which had revenue of EUR 0.4 million and EBITDA of EUR 0.1 million in 2020. No official financial statements have been prepared for the CCEA Group for 2020.
In the acquisition, Reetta Rajala, founder, majority owner and current Managing Director of CCEA and her family, will sell all their shares in CCEA Ltd. to Gofore Plc. After the acquisition, Gofore owns 95% of CCEA Ltd.’s share capital and the members of CCEA’s executive management team Mira Dahlman, Juha Lindfors, Auli Packalén and Johanna Wäänänen own a total of 5%. CCEA Ltd. will continue to operate as an independent company and will be reported as part of the Gofore Group as of the completion of the transaction, approximately on 1 March 2021. Conditional upon the completion of the transaction, Johanna Wäänänen will take over as CCEA’s Managing Director on 1 March 2021.
The purchase price of EUR 6.4 million of the share capital to be acquired consists of a debt-free price of EUR 6,175 million for the business and a compensation for net cash, estimated at EUR 0,255 million. The purchase price will be paid in full as a cash consideration of EUR 6.4 million.
Gofore estimates the revenue impact of the acquisition to be approximately EUR 6 million in the Group’s financial statements for 2021.
Mikael Nylund, CEO of Gofore, comments:
“CCEA’s team and people-driven transformation expertise will complement Gofore’s strong expertise in digital transformation in a great way. The people-driven execution of change combined with technology know-how will make Gofore a leading digital transformation consultancy in Finland. Our customers are going through an unprecedented change in moving towards digital business and operating models. Our mission is to help our customers in this transformation. The transformation, at its core, is people driven and enabled by technology and this is what our combined offering promises.”
Reetta Rajala, Managing Director of CCEA until 28 February 2021, comments:
“CCEA and Gofore take a people-first approach to transformation projects: Gofore speaks about people-driven digital transformation, CCEA about people-driven change execution. We are a good match. For the past 13 years, through the company I founded, I have lived and breathed change and given everything to this great company. With confidence, I will hand over the torch to Gofore, the new CCEA Managing Director Johanna Wäänänen and the super executive management team.”
Johanna Wäänänen, Managing Director of CCEA as of 1 March 2021, comments:
“I believe that our new journey with Gofore is a great opportunity for our customers and experts. With Gofore, we help our customers succeed especially in digital transformation, in which people are ultimately at the heart of change. Change execution, managing the change portfolio, the development of change capability and the measurement of change remain at the core of what we do.”
Key figures of CCEA Ltd. 2020
| (EUR million) | 2020 |
| Income statement | |
| Revenue | 5.24 |
| EBITDA | 1.09 |
| Operating profit (EBIT) | 1.05 |
| Balance sheet | 31 December 2020 |
| Non-current assets | 1.57 |
| Long-term receivables | 0.04 |
| Short-term receivables | 0.92 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 1.04 |
| Non-current assets total | 3.57 |
| Equity and liabilities | |
| Shareholders’ equity | 2.46 |
| Long-term liabilities | 0.00 |
| Short-term liabilities | 1.11 |
| Equity and liabilities total | 3.57 |
Key figures of Celkee Ltd. 2020
| (EUR million) | 2020 |
| Income statement | |
| Revenue | 0.44 |
| EBITDA | 0.08 |
| Operating profit (EBIT) | -0.01 |
| Balance sheet | 31 December 2020 |
| Non-current assets | 0.11 |
| Long-term receivables | 0.00 |
| Short-term receivables | 0.20 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 0.35 |
| Non-current assets total | 0.66 |
| Equity and liabilities | |
| Shareholders’ equity | 0.23 |
| Long-term liabilities | 0.28 |
| Short-term liabilities | 0.15 |
| Equity and liabilities total | 0.66 |
Further enquiries:
Mikael Nylund, CEO, Gofore Plc
tel. +358 40 540 2280
mikael.nylund@gofore.com
Reetta Rajala, Managing Director, CCEA Ltd.
tel. +358 40 779 8313
reetta.rajala@ccea.com
Johanna Wäänänen, Managing Director, CCEA Ltd. as of 1 March 2021
tel. +358 50 511 9110
johanna.waananen@ccea.com
Certified Adviser: Evli Bank Plc, tel. +358 40 579 6210
Gofore Plc is a Finland-based digitalisation specialist with international growth plans. Together with our customers, we are pioneering an ethical digital world. We’re made up of over 700 impact-driven people across Finland, Germany, Spain and Estonia – top experts in our industry who are our company’s heart, brain, and hands. We use consulting, coding and design as tools to incite positive change. We care for our people, our customers, and the surrounding world. Our values guide our business: Gofore is a great workplace that thrives on customer success. In 2020, our net sales amounted to EUR 78 million. Gofore Plc’s shares are quoted in the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland. Learn more: www.gofore.com.
CCEA is an expert in people-driven change with an exceptional ability to get people to think and work in a new way. We persistently execute change. One person at a time, if needed. In doing so, we maximize the return on our customers’ investment in change. We have more than 50 professionals in change execution, change capability development, change measurement, and change portfolio leadership. 100% our customers would recommend the CCEA service. Learn more about CCEA at ccea.com.