German Nemetschek Group appoints Sean Flaherty Chief Strategy Officer

Nemetschek Group supervisory board has announced the appointment of Sean Flaherty to the position of Chief Strategy Officer. “In light of the strong growth of the Nemetschek Group in recent years as well as the accelerated pace of acquisitions, the supervisory board decided to create a new position on the executive board. The Chief Strategy Officer will create a team and a process for the Group which will drive Group-wide future strategy and continue our globalization and development of advanced technology for our target markets.”

Nemetschek Group Rising as Global AEC Software Power

Over the past few years in particular, strong organic growth has led to key acquisitions which have combined into superb financial performance for the Nemetschek Group. The Group operates as a strategic holding company of strong independent brands. Within this framework, Mr. Flaherty will develop a strategic development team to align the brand companies and M&A strategies to accelerate the growth of the Group.

01 – The Nemetschek Group’s financial performance has been enviable in the CAD industry over the past two years in particular, in noted contrast to some leading competitors.

At the present, the Nemetschek Group has 12 brands focused on the AEC and M&E (multimedia & entertainment) markets, with the lone German brand, Maxon’s Cinema 4D being its M&E company. The Group will now look to:

• Strengthen current market positions via greater investment in existing brands
• Drive synergy among brands for globalization and building digitization as well as further processes
• Align M&A strategy at target key solutions that help customers complete their workflows using Nemetschek Group products

End to End—In the Americas and Asia

“Although we are well known in German-speaking markets as an “end-to-end” solution for designing, building and managing buildings, we have substantial room to expand our customer presence in the Americas and Asia,” says Mr. Flaherty. “Our strong financial position combined with targeted moves to acquire DDS, Bluebeam and Solibri have recently shown how we can keep expanding our offerings to replace less efficient workflows for AEC.” In addition to Group strategy and M&A targeting, the strategic team will later add industry PR and technology incubation functions to the Nemetschek Group.

03 – Nemetschek Vectorworks CEO Sean Flaherty during his opening keynote. This image shows the global distribution of Vectorworks.

Mr. Flaherty has been serving on the executive board since October 2013, as well as being the CEO of the Vectorworks brand company, one of the largest CAD/BIM companies in the world and the number selling CAD brand in the Apple Macintosh market, both before Apple’s resurgence in the oughts (00’s) and into the present. In this new position, Flaherty will have a full time position as Chief Strategy Officer on the executive board.

The other two executive board members, Patrik Heider and Viktor Várkonyi, will continue in their roles, rounding out the executive management team. Mr. Heider, spokesman of the executive board, will focus on operational excellence within the brand companies as well as driving the position of the Nemetschek Group as a top performer in the financial markets. Mr. Várkonyi will provide leadership to all BIM activities to reinforce the Nemetschek Group’s position as the market leader in improving advanced AEC workflows.

Architosh Analysis

We just noted in our last analysis note the excellent financial performance of the Nemetschek Group. With the company fast approaching $100 million USD in earnings (estimates for 2016 are EBITDA EUR 77 – 80 million), depending on currency projections, et cetera, the Group has quickly found itself with adequate capital for the types of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) it will need to sustain this growth.

Flaherty has demonstrated over the years, in our interview discussions, a sharp capacity to see the AEC software market for what it is, as opposed to the self-serving hype common to information technology markets. He more than accurately predicted the conservative up ramp of BIM in AEC and has championed a view that is anything but the BIM-washing perspective common in some quarters of the industry. This realism is likely several parts, including a dosage of conservatism but perhaps more importantly a deep connection to the needs of his company’s actual users. It may be that the Nemetschek Group’s primary strength in the market right now is tied to a pragmatism coupled with leading-edge innovations.

About the Nemetschek Group

The Nemetschek Group, Munich, is a globally leading software provider for the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) industry. With its 12 brands, the Nemetschek Group now serves around 2.1 million users in 142 countries from more than 50 locations worldwide. Founded in 1963 by Professor Georg Nemetschek, the company focuses on innovations such as Open Building Information Modeling (Open BIM) for the AEC market of tomorrow. Publicly listed since 1999 and quoted on the TecDAX, the company achieved revenue in the amount of EUR 285.3 million and an EBITDA of EUR 69.5 million in 2015.