IT firm hopes to reap benefits from Quebec investment
A Portland IT firm is looking forward to continued growth and new opportunities after its parent company in Montreal received a $7 million investment from a quasi-governmental Quebec equity investor.
Patrice Dionne, general manger of Portland-based Abilis New England, says the investment by the Société Générale de Financement du Québec will give Abilis Solutions the ability to purchase new products that could help the Portland operation broaden its niche client market. "It gives the company more means to grow the business," Dionne says.
SGF is a financial holding company created by the Quebec government in 1962 that funds economic development for Quebec province-based companies, mostly in the life sciences, IT and forest products industries.
Nick Pappas, Abilis New England's director of sales, says the new investment could help the Portland operation attract some new clients on top of the public sector, energy and utilities, health care sector and e-commerce accounts it currently serves. Once the parent company decides which new IT products to purchase, Pappas says the Portland firm will benefit from the ripple effect.
"It opens up lots of opportunities for us," Pappas says.
Abilis New England, formerly xwave New England, was purchased by Abilis Solutions for $4.5 million in June 2009. Dionne says the Portland company experienced modest growth since the recession began in 2008, with sales revenues that increased 10% in 2009 over 2008 and are on pace to reach the 15% increase goal set for 2010. Dionne says the Portland business employs 35 full-time people and utilizes up to 20 contractors, who serve fewer than 20 clients in Maine and the United States. Pappas says the company added two new positions in 2009.
Pappas says Abilis New England's success can be attributed to its ability to deliver competitively-priced IT solutions that "address clients' needs in a way that is best for them" coupled with long-term technical service to ensure performance and dependability. Current projects include an IT system used by the Maine, New Hampshire and Virginia departments of correction that helps each state better manage inmate populations.
Montreal-based Abilis employs more than 160 people, the majority of whom work at the corporate headquarters. More than 75% of Abilis' clients are located outside Québec, and most are within the United States.
The new investment from SGF confirms that Abilis is within a select group of emerging Quebec companies. In the May 2010 edition of the Journal Les Affaires, Abilis was rated among the top five small or medium-sized businesses experiencing the strongest growth through 2009, according to its list of the top 300 SMEs in Quebec.
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