Nevertheless, the following points confirm the likelihood of an operating result below that achieved last year:

•Group Internationalisation: In order to streamline the Group's entities worldwide, Business & Decision incurred significant support costs and made structural investments notably in countries involved in acquisitions (Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain and the United States). As a result, these countries have been operating below expectations in the first half.

•Inforte integration: Business & Decision has been rationalising Inforte's assets across its three locations during H1 to improve efficiency. Both Inforte Germany and Inforte UK have made significant investments which impacted their ability to regain profitability in the immediate period, however, these investments should sustain growth for H2 considering the promising pipeline and backlog for the entities. It is the opinion of the management team that on a Global basis, Inforte should be break-even in H2.

•France increase in size: Business & Decision has reached critical mass in France which offers great opportunities for the Group but also drives increased investments. Competency centers, data centers, and significant hiring and for large projects have all weighed on H1 profitability. The company is now recognised as one of the leaders of French IT consulting and services and these investments should contribute to the Group performance in H2

•Recruiting plan ahead of its H1 target: Business & Decision now has 2900 employees following the recruitment of nearly 400 staff in H1. This figure was ahead of our earlier plans but was necessary considering the tangible business opportunities visible in the coming months. To match the strong and growing order book in H2, additional recruitment will be pursued for specific profiles needed for ongoing contracts.

Business & Decision is expecting to announce operating income between 2 and 2.5% for the first half of the year. Expectations for profitability in the second half are clearly better.

Patrick Bensabat, CEO of Business & Decision comments: "2008 has started as a challenging year for Business & Decision. The acquisition of Inforte has impacted the Group in the short term but it allowed us to gain  substantial international recognition, talented teams and prestigious customers in the mid and the long term. Although we have work to do, we are well positioned with a stronger Global presence and expert capabilities. We will continue working on our structure and our organization in order to consolidate the position of the Group worldwide."

Forthcoming financial events :          

About Business & Decision

Founded in 1992, Business & Decision is an International consulting and Systems Integration company specializing in Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and E-Business. The Group works with clients to implement systems that aim at driving business functions and performance (dashboards, reporting, consolidation etc.); help in customer relationship management (sales force automation, call centers, campaign management, analytical CRM); and assist in E-Business (intranet and extranet portals, directories and Meta directories, e-commerce, knowledge management, Open source technologies, etc.). With more than 2,900 employees worldwide, Business & Decision has developed a "complete project" approach that spans from consulting to implementation. The Group has a reputation for its functional and technological expertise and has forged partnerships with all of the key technology vendors. At present, Business & Decision has more than 1,200 clients.

Business & Decision has been listed on the Euronext Paris since February 2001 (compartment B / Isin code: FR 00000 7895 8 / Symbol:  BND). Business & Decision is listed in the NextEconomy segment. For more information, visit: http://www.businessdecision.com

Press Contact:

Pauline Cieutat
Communication Manager
Investor Relations
Business & Decision
pauline.cieutat@businessdecision.com
Tel: +33 1 56 21 21 20
Fax: +33 1 56 21 21 22