CLS’s subsidiary Novacom Services specializes in geolocation services for terrestrial mobile units in the road transport, cleaning, humanitarian and building sectors. Through the acquisition of EXEO, which specializes in software publishing, route optimization and the geolocation of household waste trucks, Novacom Services has not only made an immediate technological leap forward but has also bolstered its essentially private customer portfolio (SITA, PAPREC, etc.) through the addition of EXEO’s public-sector customers (local authorities such as Strasbourg, Oléron, Perpignan and Lorient). As a Group now tracks more than 36,000 vehicles around the world in real time and processes more than 3 million messages a day. Despite the difficult economic context, CLS has again carried through a successful operation for external growth, in line with its strategy to position its subsidiary as the European geolocation leader in its target markets.
CLS, which is a subsidiary of CNES and IFREMER, is a global provider of services in the fields of locat and environmental data collection, as well as ocean surveillance and observation.
It is best known as the operator of the ARGOS system and currently employs 470 people in its 17 offices and subsidiaries.
The company operates in more than 100 countries. It processes the data from approximately 22,000 Argos transmitters, determines and publishes ocean topography to within a few centimeters in 48 hours, and processes 15,000 radar images a year, mainly for maritime safety. In 2012, CLS had a turnover of €79M, an increase of more than 8% compared to 2011, and an operating margin of more than 9%.
CLS set up Novacom Services in 2002 to specialize in geolocation and data collection (CLS’s core business) for industrial vehicles (goods transport, public works, services to local authorities, management of fleets, energy and waste, etc.). In 2008, to help develop its new subsidiary, CLS invited the Italian company Téléspazio, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica and Thalès, to take a 40% share in the capital of Novacom Services. In 2009, Novacom Services became European eader in the trailer geolocation sector
y purchasing General Electric’s onboard telematics activity, TIP Trailer Services. In 11 years, thanks to carefully-planned and controlled growth, Novacom Services has developed strongly.
With the addition of its new subsidiary, EXEO, Novacom Services expects to achieve a turnover in excess of €15.3M in 2013, with a staff of 35 working in Toulouse, France (the Group’s headquarters), 25 in the Netherlands and 15 in Bidart (headquarters of EXEO) on the French Atlantic coast.