Perth is Australia’s fourth most populous city, with a population of 2.1 million, and is situated on the southwest coast of the continent. Murray Street is one of Perth's historic high streets. The street runs from St. Mary's Cathedral in the east and westwards. This is where you’ll find, among other things, the vibrant Murray Street Mall - and now, in number 125, Cegal's first Australian office. The new office is located 8,761 miles from the headquarter in Sandnes on Norway's southwest coast.
Omar Virguez, Managing Director, Middle East & Asia at Cegal, says: “We have had customers in Australia since 2012, but never had an office before. Now we have opened our first permanent office in the country. The office in Perth is the first step to maximizing further growth potential by attracting new prospects. We are here to stay!”
Omar Virguez, pictured above (left), together with Arne Kristoffer “Stoffe” Norborg on a visit from Norway, and Neil Constantine, is also head of the Australia office.
With our new office, we are getting closer to our existing customers and can better serve them. At the same time, there are great opportunities for a technology company like Cegal here.
Omar Virguez, Cegal Australia
Virguez says that the customer list in Australia includes Woodside Energy, Santos, INPEX Australia, Chevron Australia, and Beach Energy.
Today there are two employees in the newly opened office: Neil Constantine, Director of Sales, and Vanessa Gutierrez, our technical specialist. The aim is to hire many more within Cegal's three business areas: cloud services, consulting services, and industrial software.
At the end of 2021, Cegal and SYSCO merged. CEO Dagfinn Ringaas at Cegal underlines: “During 2022, we signed significant agreements with several large companies like OKEA, Aker BP, and Skagerak Energi. In addition, we cross-sell more IT services to existing customers. Both parts result from the fact that we have become a larger company, with a wider range of expertise and services. This means we are confident that we will succeed with our expansion into Australia.”
With premises in Australia, Cegal's employees will also have greater opportunities to pursue a global career. It increases attractiveness in a job market with fierce competition for the best technology experts.
Ringaas continues: “Our goal is to build a stellar global technology company for the energy sector that will contribute to the green shift. With our establishment in Australia, we are one step closer to the goal. In Australia, too, a lot of companies need help to turn complex IT solutions into digital success.”
In the past year, Cegal has opened several offices in Hamar and Larvik in Norway and Tallinn, Estonia. At the same time, Cegal has gained real momentum in business after the merger of Cegal and SYSCO. Last year ended with a turnover of NOK 1,626 million, a growth of 15 percent from 2021. In the fourth quarter, turnover ended at NOK 490.2 million, a growth of 24% year-on-year and up 27% from the third quarter of 2022. At the same time, last year's figures showed that profitability is on track with an EBITDA margin of 19 percent.