Pentalog Group reached the 500-employee milestone on April 15th… and is heading for 1000!

This figure has somehow caught us by surprise because we rather expected to reach it in June. We therefore recruited a great number of people during the first quarter. Support functions have benefited the most from this recruitment policy… and they are the ones that needed it. We probably do not touch on this subject very often, but the teams which have increased the most recently are the administrative teams led by Virginie (our administrative and financial Director) and the technical teams led by Aymeric, the big boss of infrastructures, internal applications, technical management, the incubator and R&D. The administrative and financial department currently consists of 22 people worldwide (accountants, accountants-in-chief, lawyers and the traveling department), whereas Aymeric’s technical teams are made up of more than 50 collaborators.However, the increase of our growth rate has decreased to 20% in the first quarter of 2010, compared to a 55% performance during the first quarter of 2009. Therefore, there is a slight difference between the growth in sales and that of manpower. But we know our road map… and we know that it will enable us to have 1000 collaborators by the end of 2013. These support functions are essential for sustaining such an ambitious plan. All the more so as Pentalog will begin to assert itself for other reasons besides its figures. Innovation, be it organizational, administrative or technological, is in fact on the agenda for the following years! It is these departments that will support and produce them and will guide our evolution.All that remains to be done is to put together Pentalog Labbs so that our most daring plans will be accomplished.I will now risk a forecast and announce that, beginning with the second quarter, the growth rate will begin to rise again. I think it will go up to about 25% and will attain a rhythm of more than 30% by the fourth quarter. This rhythm, slightly lower than our average 33% established in our plans is compensated by the 50% figure registered in 2009. Therefore, by the end of 2010, we will fulfill our objectives such as they were set in 2008. Whatever may happen, this performance will be well above a stagnating French market, which will be content with a 3% increase.