Welcome to the Aventis IT Services Valuations Index, a valuable one-stop resource designed to help you track the performance of the global IT services industry.

From an initial database of 800 IT services companies, we have carefully selected 187 publicly listed IT services companies to constitute the Aventis IT Services Valuations index. Our index will bring you the most interesting and up-to-date insights about IT services valuation multiples, global performance trends, and sentiment of the IT services industry.

So, let’s dive in!

Who is this IT Services Valuations index for?

Our index constitutes small, medium, and large enterprises, making it one of the most comprehensive in the industry. We believe that the Aventis IT Services index will best serve the interests, and has been curated with the following reader groups in mind:

  • Founders and entrepreneurs running an IT services company planning a business sale or exit, identify growth opportunities or benchmarking their performance against industry standards
  • VC and PE investors active in the tech and IT services space trying to evaluate the market landscape
  • M&A professionals and corporate development teams interested in IT and tech acquisitions
  • Students, academics, and IT enthusiasts

Aventis IT Services index description

Aventis IT Services index is designed to track the performance of companies providing IT consulting and software development services.

The majority of the companies in our index fall into one of the categories or have a number of business lines in parallel:

  1. Software development: Designing, coding, and maintaining software applications.
  2. IT Consulting: Companies providing digital transformation, cloud migration, and IT strategy
  3. Software integrators: partners of SAP, Microsoft, Salesforce, etc.
  4. Managed Services Providers (MSPs): Delivering outsourced IT support and management
  5. Value Added Resellers (VARs): Reselling products with added features or services.

Methodology

Countries included: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Revenue size: at least $10 million as of 3 June 2024

The index started with 95 public IT services companies on January 1, 2015, and had 187 companies as constituents on Aug 30, 2024.

Aventis IT Services Valuations Index

Due to the fact that the IT services industry is cyclical, the Aventis IT Services index showed a steady rise between 2015 and 2018, with the index growing from 100 pts to 245 pts. This was followed by a plateau phase and decline in 2019.

Over the analyzed period, our IT Services index grew by 6x, i.e., a compounded growth rate of around 21%. During the same period, the index (excluding Indian IT services companies) grew by only 4x, i.e., a compounded growth rate of ~15%

The strong performance of the India-inclusive index suggests that investments in Indian IT services companies could yield higher returns, albeit with potentially higher volatility.

To better understand the performance of the IT services industry, we can compartmentalize it into three phases, each with its distinct characteristics and key drivers:

Pre-2020: Stable and rationale growth phase of IT services

The period between 2015 and 2019 was characterized by the rise of digital transformation efforts by corporations. The demand to shift to cloud computing and improve existing infrastructure made IT services companies worthy beneficiaries of more business from existing and new clients.

This translated into higher revenues and stable profitability margins, pushing the Aventis IT services index slowly but stably higher from 100 points to 245 points, a roughly 25% compounded annual growth in four years.

2020-22: Disruption and consequent hype phase

The global pandemic in 2020 coerced corporations to adjust to remote working, and this was no easy change. As lockdowns and uncertainty kicked in, global asset prices took a hit, and IT services were no exception. Aventis IT services valuations index was uprooted from its stable and growing phase and experienced a crash of roughly 35% between February and March 2020.

However, the IT services industry quickly recovered from these lows. Over the next two years, Aventis IT services peaked at an all-time high of 661 points before taking a breather. We attribute the reason for this rapid recovery to the following:

  • The demand for IT services increased massively during the pandemic as corporations raced to ensure they had the necessary tech infrastructure to support the work-from-home revolution.
  • This phase was also characterized by high YoY revenue growth for IT services companies, as shown in our research on IT services valuation multiples.
  • Central banks globally focussed on stimulating the economy to avoid a recessionary spell, and this prompted quantitative easing through lower interest rates.
  • Interest rates and cost of capital are inversely related to the valuation of a company, so as the interest rates went down, valuations of IT services companies boomed

Post-2022: New macroeconomic reality for IT services

Even though inflation was eating into companies’ net profits, IT services have done a fairly good job of passing on this cost increase to the clients on the back of huge demand. The AI hype also allowed IT services companies to jump and get a piece of the action by providing services related to AI cloud transformation, AI consulting, and more. Thus justifying why the IT services index is still holding up at elevated levels, but there is no guarantee that this can be sustained.

IT services is a cyclical industry, and a plateau or decline follows every growth phase. Aventis IT services index experienced volatility during 2023 but is still close to its all-time high.

There are several reasons for this:

  • With rampant inflation across the world, central banks pivoted to quantitative tightening, thereby increasing interest rates that affected the valuations of IT services companies negatively
  • The increasing interest rates also limit the ability of IT services companies to borrow cheaply and invest in growth projects to maximize revenue and, eventually, stock prices.
  • However, the ongoing hype and advancements in artificial intelligence present significant opportunities for innovation and efficiency, which could lead to substantial cost reductions and improved profit margins.
  • Additionally, the prospects for revenue growth remain promising, driven by the continuous demand for technological advancements and digital transformation.
  • As of June 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its first interest rate cut, but this is in no way a signal that the meetings of other global central banks will follow suit.

As a result, investors may anticipate another growth cycle on the horizon, balancing the current slowdown with the potential benefits of AI and cost efficiencies.

The chart above effectively highlights how anticipated revenue growth in the next twelve months (NTM) influences valuation multiples in the IT services sector. From 2020, the EV/EBITDA multiple significantly increased, peaking around mid-2021, which aligns with a substantial rise in NTM revenue growth forecasts.

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S&P 500 IT Services Industry Index Vs Aventis IT Services Index

The Aventis IT services index mimics the general trend of the S&P IT services index, but overall, the Aventis IT services index outperforms the S&P IT services index in most years.

Indian IT services companies significantly drive the outperformance of the Aventis index. As of May 2024, the Aventis IT Services Index, including Indian companies, outperformed the index, excluding Indian companies by 37%.

So, why would you use the Aventis IT services index over the S&P 500 IT services industry index? There are several reasons!

The S&P 500 IT services industry index comprises stocks in the S&P 500 that are classified as part of the GICS IT services industry (only seven big companies!). Meanwhile, the Aventis IT Services index has a broader appeal and includes small, medium, and large IT services companies from across the world.

ComparisonS&P 500 IT Services Industry IndexAventis IT Sevices IndexAventis IT Services Index (excl. India)
No. of constituent companiesOnly 7187 companies151 companies
Geography focusUSA onlyGlobalGlobal excl. India
Rebalancing frequencyQuarterlyMonthlyMonthly
2015-2023 performance (CAGR) 12%21%15%
A comparison between the Aventis IT services index and the S&P 500 IT services industry index

Index Composition

By revenue size

The Aventis IT services index’s constituents are almost evenly distributed in terms of their revenue size. There are 43 companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, such as TCS, IBM, Accenture, Wipro, and others, but medium—and small-sized companies also represent the index quite well, with at least 15 companies in each revenue group category.

By market capitalization

Our index consists of companies with market capitalizations as low as $10 million and up to $1 billion+. The Aventis IT services index has 100 companies with market caps between $10 million and $200 million.

By country

India is one of the biggest IT outsourcing hubs globally, and naturally, IT services companies from India are the biggest constituents of our index. They are closely followed by IT services companies in the USA, Germany, France, and Poland.

About Aventis Advisors

Aventis Advisors is an M&A advisor focusing on technology and growth companies. We believe the world would be better off with fewer (but better quality) M&A deals done at the right moment for the company and its owners. Our goal is to provide honest, insight-driven advice, clearly laying out all the options for our clients – including the one to keep the status quo.

Get in touch with us to discuss how much your business could be worth and how the process looks.

Companies included in the Aventis IT services index

Accenture, IBM, Tata Consultancy Services, Capgemini, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Infosys, Kyndryl Holdings, DXC Technology, HCL Technologies, Atos, Wipro, CGI, Computacenter, Sopra Steria Group, Tech Mahindra, Indra Sistemas, EPAM Systems, Alten, ASGN, LTIMindtree, Atea, TietoEVRY, Econocom Group, Formula Systems, Reply, Globant, Unisys, Converge Technology Solutions, Cancom, Data#3, Exclusive Networks, 4iG, Mphasis, Matrix IT, Kontron, adesso, Softcat, Persistent Systems, Solutions 30, Coforge, Thoughtworks Holding, Sonata Software, Computer Direct Group, Nagarro, Digital Value, Endava, One Software Technologies, Malam – Team, GFT Technologies, Perficient, Netcompany Group, Neurones, Knowit, PT Anabatic Technologies, Tata Technologies, Aubay Société Anonyme, Zensar Technologies, Allgeier, Hinduja Global Solutions, All for One Group, DATAGROUP, Kainos Group, Comarch, Proact IT Group, Altron, Prodware, Keyrus, Asseco South Eastern Europe, E & M Computing, Alithya Group, Infotel, Bouvet, ECIT, Sword Group, Grid Dynamics Holdings, The Hackett Group, PT Mastersystem Infotama, SQLI, A.P.N. Promise, Comp, Columbus, SNP Schneider-Neureither & Partner, Trifork Group, PT Multipolar Technology, Exprivia, Cigniti Technologies, Digia, Systems, Gofore, Happiest Minds Technologies, KPS, AgileThought, Space Hellas, Micropole, Novabase, ORBIS, Atturra, Ctac, Siili Solutions, Glintt – Global Intelligent Technologies, izertis, Kellton Tech Solutions, Expleo Solutions, Dynacons Systems & Solutions, WidePoint, Singular People, DecisionPoint Systems, TPXimpact Holdings, Spyrosoft, Telelink Business Services Group, B3 Consulting Group, Spindox, Saksoft, AROBS Transilvania Software, Webstep, audius, CAG Group, Allied Digital Services, Itera, Atende, Bittnet Systems, Seven Principles, Softronic, Microdata, CombinedX, Exsitec Holding, Witted Megacorp, Magellanic Cloud, Sescom, Performance Technologies, TSS, Metrofile Holdings, CSP, Blue Cloud Softech Solutions, PBT Group, Sygnity, Inspirisys Solutions, Onward Technologies, Qlosr Group, CES, Arribatec Group, DevPort, Made Tech Group, Novotek, Sirma Group Holding, Mindteck, Castellum, Betacom, Netum Group, Sevenet, Reti, HITECHPROS, plenum, CloudCoCo Group, Ceinsys Tech, Neurosoft Software Production, Softlab, Fos, Digital Workforce Services, XTGlobal Infotech, Silver Touch Technologies, CyberTech Systems and Software, Cambridge Technology Enterprises, Trigyn Technologies, Union Technologies Informatique Group, Xchanging Solutions, KBJ, Speedvalue, PT Data Sinergitama Jaya, TechNVision Ventures, Talex, GRC International Group, MakoLab, Triad Group, ROX Hi-Tech, CPT Global, mVISE, Quicktouch Technologies, Kermann IT Solutions, SOCO Corporation, Ksolves India, Quality & Reliability, AION-TECH Solutions, Lukardi, Solidx, NINtec Systems, Wirtek.