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Atos will suspend plans to sell some strategic assets in defence and cyber security as the French IT services group seeks to put the “madness” of past restructurings behind it and benefit from an increase in Europe’s military spending.
Chief executive Philippe Salle said the company wanted to carve out a position for itself in the continent’s push for defence autonomy, rather than selling assets cheaply when demand for their services was growing.
Salle, who took up his post in February, unveiled the troubled group’s latest strategic plan on Wednesday, having agreed a restructuring plan with its creditors last year. Atos has racked up almost €5bn in debt in recent years following an acquisition spree and a botched plan to split the group.
As part of the relaunch, Salle has decided to halt efforts to sell the group’s Mission Critical Systems business — which runs communication and command systems for key French military assets, including communications for Dassault’s Rafale fighter jets — and cyber security products.
“It’s not the right time [to sell] because these are players who work in defence, in markets that are experiencing double-digit growth . . . I’m not going to sell at the low point,” Salle told the Financial Times
The French state, concerned that the company might collapse or be sold to a foreign interest, had pushed Atos to sell these sensitive business units to another French operator at the height of its troubles last year.
“If at some point the state tells me that these are really not things that we should keep, we’ll see, but one thing is certain: I really won’t sell now,” Salle added.
As geopolitical tensions ratchet up, notably between Europe and the US under President Donald Trump, Salle said Atos can position itself to be the European option for clients who “want to reduce the weight of non-European actors” they rely on for their IT services.
“I think we have a real card to play because we are indeed a European player who offers almost a complete portfolio of services,” he said.
A series of crises at Atos sent the shares down 96 per cent over the past three years, with Salle the seventh chief executive for the company since 2021.
Negotiations with the French state to buy Atos’s advanced computing activities — which are vital for national security and used for nuclear testing — are ongoing, the company said, with an exclusivity period that runs until the end of May. The current enterprise value being discussed is €500mn, though that could be increased to €625mn including earnouts from the business, Atos said.
The new strategy envisions returning the group to positive organic revenue growth next year while cutting costs and simplifying its structure. Atos aims to bring revenues to €10bn by 2028, aiming for an operating margin of 10 per cent. It also wants to regain an investment-grade credit rating.
Salle said: “The message is: Atos is back. We’re alive, we’re moving, we’re regaining market share that we’ve lost. And we’re lining ourselves up to start growing again.”
