How fast is Regus expanding internationally?
Olivier de Lavalette: We ended the first half of 2007 with a 36 % year-on-year increase in sales and a 32.6 % increase in the number of workstations. Our growth is in line with the globalisation of business and the increased need for mobility. We are growing organically and through the acquisition of independent centres and small local networks. Our strongest areas of development are therefore, quite logically, Asia - in particular India and China - but also the Gulf. Europe has not been forgotten either, with around twenty new centres opened in the last six months, in both up-and-coming and mature locations.
What about France?
O. de L. : We have opened eleven centres in France since the start of the year, and we have just inaugurated our first centre dedicated exclusively to conferences, at La Défense.
How do you explain the rapid development of business centres around the world?
O. de L. : This responds to three major underlying trends: the need for flexibility - including for real estate - the need for mobility and also the need for each company to refocus on its core business without having to worry about office management.
Do you see other global competitors emerging?
O. de L. : No. We have local and national competitors, but no global competitors on our scale. Our strongest competitor must have 50-60 centres, whereas we will soon be reaching 1,000.
For our customers, this is a real plus, as they benefit from a single commercial interface with a dedicated contact who deals with their requests and is able to transfer their contract from one centre to another; with, everywhere, the guarantee of a class A building in a strategic location.
What about you?
O. de L. : For us, this remains a considerable commercial advantage: we are the only ones able to promise our customers that we can accompany them anywhere in the world.
This is even truer since the development of our Network Access programme, which gives our customers in each centre access to a business lounge in each of the other centres in the network. This means that all Regus customers can benefit from a well-equipped place to sit down and work, wherever they are.
In 2006, you acquired the Laptop Lane network of 'express' offices located in major US airports. Does this acquisition herald others?
O. de L. : Meeting the need for mobility is central to our strategy. We are looking at any proposal that might meet this need for business premises for people on the move. The widespread use of business lounges in our centres meets this need, as does the establishment of Regus centres next to stations and airports, as we have done in France at Montparnasse, Saint-Lazare and Toulouse-Blagnac.
Bio express
1963 Born in Paris.
1985 Bachelor of Arts (Brown University).
1989 MBA at Columbia University.
1990-2005 Various positions (operations director, e-commerce director, marketing and sales director, etc.) at Compaq and then HP.
2006 Vice President, Managing Director Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa for Regus.
