Searches led across Europe after five SoftwareOne employees accused of insider trading violations
Probes made in the UK, Switzerland and Germany as suspects allegedly avoided financial losses of up to CHF 2.49m
SoftwareOne’s offices were searched as part of investigations into five non-executive current or former employees for potential insider trading violations.
Searches were conducted at the company’s headquarters in Stans, Switzerland, as well as Leipzig, Germany and in the UK on 2 December.
Private residences were also probed.
The Swiss attorney general's office (OAG) alleged that, in 2024, five members of staff exploited confidential information prior to the publication of two pre-market press releases and sold their shares in time to dodge financial losses of up to CHF 2.49m (£2.33m).
Prosecutors of the OAG said that the people involved in this case all held senior positions during and before the events.
Investigations in Switzerland have been led in cooperation with the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).
Interventions in Germany and the UK resulted from international mutual legal assistance.
These were coordinated by the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust).
SoftwareOne noted that the organisation is not accused of any wrongdoing and is fully cooperating with the authorities.
These probes come as the VAR has been going through financial challenges since the beginning of FY24.
The company first started seeing earnings drop in Q1 last year, a trend that has been constant through H1 to the end of 2024.
This led the firm to name Raphael Erb CEO, replacing Brian Duffy who held this title for nearly two years.
Despite this leadership change, the organisation has shared mixed figures across 2025.
Following top-line decline in Q1 and H1 this year, revenue leapt 46 per cent year-on-year in Q3 on a reported basis to CHF 343.2m (£321.25m) in the third quarter.
This surge was fuelled by the acquisition of Norwegian reseller Crayon which closed in July.
But on a combined like-for-like basis, group earnings dropped 3.2 per cent in reported currency to CHF 344.2m (£322.2m).
SoftwareOne’s UK arm ranks number 77 in CRN’s Top VARs list.