Sopra Steria nears €3bn revenue as France drives H1 momentum

The group’s largest market offset declines in the UK and wider Europe

France-HQ Sopra Steria reported revenue growth in H1 2026, with momentum in France partially offset by declines in the UK and its wider European operations.

Turnover increased 4.1 per cent to €2.96bn (£2.5bn), compared with €2.84bn a year earlier.

Top line rose three per cent organically.

Excluding the end of the SFT programme for Germany’s Sparda banks, which reduced organic growth by 1.8 per cent, underlying organic momentum reached 4.9 per cent.

Revenue breakdown

France remained Sopra Steria’s largest market, accounting for 44 per cent of group revenue.

Turnover in the country rose 8.9 per cent to €1.32bn, with organic growth of 7.1 per cent.

All sectors except energy and telecoms increased during the period, with the strongest performances coming from the public sector, transport, aeronautics, defence, security and space and financial services.

The UK generated €454.1m, representing 15 per cent of group earnings.

While this was down 0.5 per cent from €456.2m, the reporting unit recorded organic momentum of 2.5 per cent.

Sopra Steria said this was driven by next-generation business process services, financial services platforms, defence and services linked to new technologies.

The wider European division generated €1.01bn, down 0.7 per cent year on year and two per cent organically.

This included €37m from SFT, down from €85.8m during H1 2025 as the programme approached its planned conclusion.

Excluding SFT, revenue reached €971.4m, up three per cent organically.

Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia grew during the period while Germany and Belgium remained broadly flat.

Earnings continued to decline in the Netherlands, although Sopra Steria expects the country, as well as Germany and Belgium, to return to growth during H2.

Solutions recorded the strongest reported top line growth, rising ten per cent to €180.9m.

Organic momentum came to 5.3 per cent, supported by a 4.3 per cent increase in Human Resources Solutions and continued growth in Property Management Solutions.

“In the second quarter of 2026, Sopra Steria confirmed the solidity of its business model, boosted by its positioning in vertical markets that offer high growth potential and are particularly sensitive to challenges surrounding digital sovereignty,” said CEO Rajesh Krishnamurthy.

“The growth momentum of our business improved with respect to Q1.

“This improvement, combined with our outlook for the second half of the year, has enabled us to raise our full-year target for organic revenue growth.”

Sopra Steria raises outlook following acquisitions and leadership changes

Following its H1 performance, Sopra Steria raised its FY26 organic revenue forecast from between one and two per cent to between two and 2.5 per cent.

The update comes during a period of acquisition and exec team revamp for the French organisation.

In May, the firm completed its acquisitions of Starion and Nexova, creating a European space and cybersecurity business with more than €200m in revenue and nearly 2,000 employees.

Earlier this month, Sopra Steria appointed Laura Chaubard to lead its Defence, Security and Space unit from 1 September.

In June, company veteran Craig Wilson was appointed UK CEO, taking up the role on 1 July.

These changes followed the appointment of Krishnamurthy as group CEO, who took over in February.