Sema Group : a drop of 45.7% on Paris Stock Exchange in one session only!

Black Friday on the Stock Exchange on November, 24th 2000 for the Franco-British group, Sema Group, specialized in the introduction of computer systems and in advise (2 billion dollars turnover in 1999). After warning that its earnings of the second semester of 2000 would be unchanged, the company faced the collapse of its share : a breathtaking drop in price of 45.7% on Paris Stock Exchange reaching 5.85 euros and of 44.2% in London.

Sema Group, a very big group at Sophia Antipolis (more than 300 persons considering its three entities Semavision, Broadvision and the Organic division) was the victim, according to analysts, of the acquisition of LHS last March, an American producer of telecommunication software and of weaker performances than what was expected in the information managing. The market sanction was extremely severe.