Johannesburg, 15 Feb 2005
On February 15, 2005, Unisys Africa issued the following press release to ITWeb (www.itweb.co.za) headlined: "Gartner says new CEO McGrath up to challenge of transforming Unisys revenues". The article referred to a research note by Gartner, dated 11 November 2004, written by R. Silliman and titled: "New Unisys CEO Must Succeed Quickly". Unisys Africa did not gain direct approval from Gartner to reproduce the parts of that research note referred to in the press release. Unisys Africa therefore retracts this story. The original Unisys Africa press release is reproduced below.
Gartner says new CEO McGrath up to challenge of transforming Unisys revenues
New Unisys CEO Joseph McGrath is well suited to meeting the challenge of increasing revenues for the business, says Gartner.
McGrath was a key player in developing the business`s 3D Visible Enterprise (3DVE) strategy that is central to growing its consulting and systems integration business.
"This is an important time in Unisys`s evolution," says Lawrence Weinbach, Unisys executive chairman. "Many forces are reshaping the IT market, creating significant opportunities in growing markets where Unisys has deep domain expertise. Joe and his leadership team have an aggressive plan to capitalise on future growth potential."
McGrath says he has three priorities for driving profitable growth:
* Capitalise on Unisys`s differentiators in the marketplace, particularly the Unisys 3DVE methodology and solutions;
* Maximise the effectiveness in winning business by leveraging the company`s global resources and going to market as "one Unisys"; and
* Operate within a lean cost structure, competitive with the industry`s best-in-class benchmarks.
"Unisys has differentiators that clearly set us apart in the marketplace, including the 3DVE offering, combined with our end-to-end portfolio of services and solutions, industry depth and global capabilities," says McGrath.
According to Gartner McGrath must deal with flat revenue results for 2003 and 2004 and he needs to show the industry better numbers during the next few quarters and top-line revenue growth for year-to-year for 2005.
Gartner acknowledges that the first three quarters for any technology service provider such as Unisys are traditionally lean and the business will reap more revenue in the fourth quarter. But the firm warns: "If Unisys does not meet this goal, Joseph McGrath will find himself taking over a shrinking business in an industry that looks harshly at underperforming players in a consolidating marketplace."
The organisation, which has successfully transformed its business model with little financial disruption since 1997 when Weinbach joined, will also face increasing pressure from competitors as the economy begins to improve.
The market analysis firm suggests that McGrath has chosen to spend his energies correctly in aiming to develop a run rate that allows outsourcing, consulting and systems integration to more than replace the decline in other Unisys businesses.
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