Xansa plc, trading as Xansa, was a British
outsourcing and technology company, and was quoted on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
until 17 October 2007 when the purchase of Xansa by
Steria was completed and the company was delisted. Its
headquarters were in
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
, Berkshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, and it had a major presence in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. In the 2007
financial year
A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
the company had a turnover of
UK£379.7 million.
History
The company began as ''Freelance Programmers'', established in 1962 by
Stephanie "Steve" Shirley. Two years later it was incorporated as ''Freelance Programmers Limited''.
["Comment and Analysis" report by Pam Kingsley.] Shirley wanted to create job opportunities for women with dependants, and predominantly employed women: there were only three male programmers in the first 300 staff,
until the
Sex Discrimination Act 1975
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c. 65) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which protected men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status. The Act concerned employment, training, education, harassmen ...
made that practice illegal.
Her team's projects included programming
Concorde
The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
's black box flight recorder.
[Report by Sue Austin. She was due to be attending Oswestry Literary Festival to publicise her autobiography.]
In 1974 it became ''
F International''; the 'F' standing originally for Freelance but increasingly for Flexible and Free, too.
[Kinsman, F. (1987) ''The Telecommuters''. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.] By the late 1970s Steve Shirley had recognised that, as founder entrepreneur, it was time to let go and in 1987, with
Hilary Cropper's appointment as CEO, was able to bow out.
F International became F.I.Group in 1988, and in 1991 Steve Shirley gave a controlling interest in FI to the workforce. In March 1996 FI was floated on the London Stock Exchange.
Between 1997 and 2000 FI acquired IIS Infotech Limited, an Indian computer services company based in New Delhi; OSI - a London-based business consulting and management support services company, and Reading-based IT consultancy company Druid.
In April 2001 the company's name was changed to Xansa.
In June 2007, Alistair Cox - the CEO since August 2002 - announced his resignation.
"Xansa CEO moves to Hays"
/ref> His role was taken up by the Chairman, Bill Alexander.
It was announced on 27 July to the London Stock Exchange that the company was in advanced talks regarding a possible takeover.
On 30 July 2007, Groupe Steria SCA announced a recommended cash offer for Xansa Plc of 130p per share. The purchase of Xansa was completed via a scheme of arrangement
A scheme of arrangement (or a "scheme of reconstruction") is a court-approved agreement between a company and its shareholders or creditors (e.g. lenders or debenture holders). It may affect mergers and amalgamations and may alter shareholder or ...
by Steria on 17 October 2007 and the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange.
Industries
Xansa operated across several business sectors, with divisions in banking, insurance, public sector, retail, telecoms, transport, logistics and utilities.
Xansa also had some smaller clients, including a high-profile partnership wit
Renault F1
and had a logo on the F1 car.
See also
F International
References
External links
Company Website
{{Authority control
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Companies based in Reading, Berkshire