November 11, 2009

U.S.-Based FacilitySource Expands Globally with Opening of European Offices

COLUMBUS, Ohio – During the last few years, much of the growth potential in the retail industry has been in overseas markets. Many American retailers are taking advantage of growth opportunities by expanding their popular stores into overseas markets such as the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Asia and continental Europe. As a result, U.S.-based FacilitySource, a leading provider of facility maintenance and management services, has recently established two European offices to work closely with retailers with overseas locations to help them realize significant savings with their facility maintenance spending.

With the opening of European offices in Madrid, Spain, and Chester, England, FacilitySource, is strategically positioned to help European retailers and companies uncover areas of possible savings within their facility maintenance spending. The company will also use these locations to support its U.S-based retail clients that continue to expand into these overseas markets.

“Regardless of the market, we are finding that an often overlooked area where savings can be realized is facility maintenance. One of the best ways companies can uncover and acquire savings is to gain a better understanding of their maintenance spending patterns,” said Bill Hayden, FacilitySource CEO. “As more companies expand overseas and European businesses grow, it became apparent that managing their facility maintenance spend is an increasing issue and one we’re accustomed to providing unique solutions to these ongoing challenges.”

A driving force in FacilitySource’s European growth is its partnership with a major fashion retailer in Spain. FacilitySource currently provides its suite solutions to over 600 of the retailer’s stores in Spain, and is scheduled to implement the Portugal locations in the coming months. Additional country locations will be implemented to include all of the retailer’s 1,100 locations in Europe.

FacilitySource will offer European retailers solutions to help them improve processes and save money by centralizing work requests, aggregating spending power and leveraging fmPilot, a state of the art online work request management system. This allows retailers to mine the data available in fmPilot to make more strategic decisions for its real estate and store maintenance budgets.

Additionally, FacilitySource has been approached by a number of its US-based retail clients to assist in supporting international expansion efforts. FacilitySource has localized its proprietary technology tools to twelve languages which range from French to Japanese and has associated currencies and tax requirements. U.S. retailers who are currently leveraging the FacilitySource solution set want to retain the visibility and control which they have become accustom to as they expand overseas. A large part of this drive is to retain their brand consistency and image, no matter how far geographically the location is from the home office.

“Based on a number of industry reports, it’s apparent that the face of retail is changing, especially for American retailers; and globalization seems to be a key component of that change,” said Hayden.

According to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and TNS Retail Forward, barriers to global trade will continue to come down, impediments to global sourcing will continue to ease, and developing markets will continue to phase out restrictions on foreign retailer operations. The report also mentioned that more American retailers will need to expand globally as they are a little behind in comparison to European retailers.

For more information on FacilitySource, visit www.facilitysource.com.

About FacilitySource

Founded in 2001, FacilitySource is known for its holistic approach to facility maintenance management and process optimization in a wide range of business sectors, which include retailers, shopping centers, restaurants, auto parts stores and other companies with geographically disperse real estate portfolios. With over 50,000 locations served and a database of over 10,000 vendors, FacilitySource provides web-based transaction management software, vendor management and research, fully-manned 24/7/365 call centers, statistical analysis and reporting, and paperless invoicing. FacilitySource manages over one million work orders annually as well as over half a billion in annual repair and maintenance spend. It is estimated that within the first year, FacilitySource saves its clients up to 20 percent of their annual maintenance spending. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, FacilitySource also manages its operations in Phoenix, AZ; Chester England and Madrid, Spain. For more information, visit www.facilitysource.com.

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November 11, 2009

U.S.-Based FacilitySource Expands Globally with Opening of European Offices

About FacilitySource