(AOF) – Yesterday Atos recorded the second largest drop in the SBF 120 index. The struggling IT group announced that its subsidiary Bull has issued a preferred share for the benefit of the French State in order to protect the interests of national sovereignty in respect of certain activities carried out by Atos. The State benefits from governance rights at the level of Bull, in particular representation rights in corporate bodies (without voting rights at this stage) and prior authorization and approval rights aimed at protecting sensitive sovereign activities. .
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Key points
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– International leader in digital transformation, high-performance computing and infrastructures linked to information technologies, created in 1997, European leader in the cloud, cybersecurity and supercomputers;
– Activity of €1O.7 billion, divided into 2 divisions: Eviden -digital, big data & security- for 48% of sales, and Tech Foundations for 51% -infrastructure and connected work environments;
– Turnover generated at 30% in Northern Europe and Asia-Pacific, 23% in Central Europe, 23% in the Americas then 21% in Southern Europe;
– Ambition: maximization of value via the division of the group into 2 distinct entities – Tech Fondations for infrastructure, private cloud and platforms and Eviden for digital, big data and cybersecurity;
– Open capital (9.96% for the Siemens pension fund, 2.2% for employees and, since December 2023, 11.4 for Onepoint);
– Chairmanship of the board of 12 directors ensured, since October 2023, by Jean_Pierre Mustier, general management being led by Paul Saleh, assisted by Carlo d'Asaro Biondo, “general manager”.
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Challenges
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– Agility of the business model:
– hindered by the delay in the split of the group between Eviden and Tech Fondations,
– focused for a year on the financial recovery, neither the disposals, of a planned amount of €400 million for 2024, nor the availability & free self-financing allowing the payment of bond maturities, in particular for the 2025 loans
– notable for its innovative strength developed in 18 R&D centers with a portfolio of 3,000 patents based on open innovation via partnerships with university centers (quantum computing, exascale computers, artificial intelligence, HPC,) and alliances with other industrial players (AWS, Dell, Google, Huma, etc.)
– Environmental strategy of carbon neutrality in 2028 and halving of emissions by 2025 vs 2021:
– Good visibility with an order book equal to turnover;
– Very degraded financial situation -€2.23 billion in debt, negative cash flow of €1.1 billion-, the ongoing restructuring being supported by the majority of creditors and bankers via “New Secure Financing” and a Lock-up.
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Challenges
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After the losses recorded in 2021, 2022 and 2023 (€3.4 billion) and the successive refusals of potential buyers of Eviden or Tech Fondations (Thales, Airbus, EPEI, etc.), investors' distrust of governance ( reporting to the Financial Markets Authority of serious dysfunctions in the board by one of the directors, increase of Onepoint in the group's capital, etc.);
– Towards a probable takeover by the French State of “sovereign” activities and persistent questions about the emergence of significant shareholders; ;
– After the opening, at the end of July, of an accelerated safeguard procedure, towards the conversion of almost half of the debt into shares and a capital increase;
– Achievement of quantified objectives:
– revenue: €9.9 billion in 2024, €10.2 billion in 2025, €10.8 billion in 2026,
– operating margin: 4.3% in 2024, 6.3% in 2025, €8.6 billion in 2026,
– net profit: -€13 million in 2024, €202 million in 2024, €788 million in 2026,
– generation of positive cash flows from 2026;;
– Suppression of the dividend.
