Accenture Announces Intent to Acquire French Amazon Web Services (AWS) Consultancy Gekko, Bolstering Cloud Innovation for Global Enterprises

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has agreed to acquire Gekko, a leading French Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services company. The acquisition would expand Accenture’s AWS resources in France to support enterprise migrations and development on cloud platforms, which has become the foundation for innovation and business transformation.
 
The acquisition requires prior consultation with the relevant works councils and would be subject to customary closing conditions. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Providing consulting, integration and managed services on AWS, Gekko has more than 100 trained cloud professionals, with more than 85 AWS certifications and a deep relationship with AWS. Gekko is an AWS Advanced Partner, holds an AWS competency in Storage and is an AWS Authorized Training partner. Gekko is also part of the AWS Solution Provider and Well Architected Framework program.
 
Since its inception in 2015, Gekko has helped more than 80 clients, including some of the largest French companies, design, deploy and maintain a flexible, connected and secure cloud infrastructure.
 
For clients in France and across Europe, the acquisition of Gekko would strengthen Accenture’s general and industry-specific cloud experience in AWS technologies. The combination of Gekko’s deep skills in AWS with Accenture’s industry knowledge and experience in global large-scale cloud initiatives would now provide highly differentiated end-to-end services to the European market. Clients would benefit from full range cloud services including strategy ideation, migration and managed services.
 
“Aligned with our development strategy, the acquisition of Gekko would be another significant addition because it would give clients more support for public cloud options. Gekko would also be a major opportunity to accelerate our growth strategy in France,” said Olivier Girard, Accenture’s Geographic Unit managing director for France and Benelux. “Accenture’s advantage is our ability to keep pace with evolving customer expectations. Our clients call on Accenture to help them innovate and transform their business. Gekko would bring key cloud, AI and DevOps skills and would help us serve a greater and more diverse range of clients in France and the broader European market.”
 
Cedric Le Yeuc’h, managing director at Accenture Technology in France and Benelux, added, “The acquisition of Gekko would underscore our multi-cloud strategy and would expand our AWS capabilities for clients to realize incremental business value through a cloud adoption and DevOps transformation. It would increase our on-shore AWS fully automated cloud operations and FinOps capabilities with Gekko’s delivery center located in the west of France. The acquisition of Gekko would enhance our position as one of the leading providers of AWS expertise and cloud transformation in the French market.”
 
“In the fast-growing cloud market, joining Accenture would be a unique opportunity to help even more organizations to leverage journey to the cloud for accelerating their digital transformations, growing their businesses and improving customer experiences,” said Roland Esnis and Julien Favre, co-founders and CEOs of Gekko. “By combining the renowned talent, reputation and capabilities of Gekko with Accenture’s strong team of AWS practitioners in France, we would be better positioned to lead the industry in cloud services in France.”
 
This acquisition would strengthen Accenture’s positions with key providers in the Cloud and AI, including ecosystem partners such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. It will also enhance Accenture’s end-to-end Intelligent Cloud & Infrastructure Services and will complement the capabilities and strategic objectives of the Accenture AWS Business Group (AABG) within Accenture Technology in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Accenture’s AWS global community consists of more than 8,000 AWS trained professionals that hold over 5,500 AWS certification. The AABG is built on more than 13 years of partnership between Accenture and AWS and thousands of joint successful projects. Accenture is recognized by AWS with more than 20 AWS awarded competencies/service delivery designations.
 
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities across all of these services. We combine unmatched experience and specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries — powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. With 509,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value across their enterprises. Visit us at  www.accenture.com.
 
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. For a discussion of risks and actions taken in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, see “Our results of operations have been adversely affected and could in the future be materially adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)” under Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in Accenture plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended February 29, 2020. Many of the following risks, uncertainties and other factors identified below are, and will be, amplified by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). These risks include, without limitation, risks that: Accenture and Gekko will not be able to close the transaction in the time period anticipated, or at all, which is dependent on the parties’ ability to satisfy certain closing conditions; the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture’s results of operations have been adversely affected and could in the future be materially adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19); Accenture’s results of operations could be adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture’s business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company’s services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if Accenture is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture could face legal, reputational and financial risks if the company fails to protect client and/or company data from security breaches or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; changes in Accenture’s level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture’s profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies; Accenture’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; as a result of Accenture’s geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue to expand in its key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; Accenture’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; Accenture’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key alliance partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture’s services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture’s results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; many of Accenture’s contracts include fees subject to the attainment of targets or specific service levels, which could increase the variability of the company’s revenues and impact its margins; Accenture might be unable to access additional capital on favorable terms or at all and if the company raises equity capital, it may dilute its shareholders’ ownership interest in the company; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.