The French IT giant Atos recorded a net loss of 129 million euros in the first half of 2021, weighed down by the weight of its traditional IT activities as companies flock to the cloud (cloud computing).
Read also: 2021, the annus horribilis of the French group Atos
Atos took the lead on July 12, warning investors that it would not return to growth this year and that its profitability would deteriorate. The group's sales to 105,000 employees are affected by
"the acceleration of migrations to the cloud"
, to the detriment of the IT infrastructures that Atos operated on behalf of companies, the group explained in its earnings release on Tuesday. Atos has also seen its telecommunications and network services drop faster than expected (“Unified communications and collaborations”), he explained.
“This alert highlights Atos' need to transform. We must radically, quickly and very deeply, transform the group, ”
said Elie Girard, the group's general manager, in an interview with Les
Echos
published Tuesday evening.
“The post-Covid acceleration of digital migration to the cloud is absolutely phenomenal (...) Atos benefits from this acceleration, but only for half of its activity,”
he explained.
Sell up to 20% of its activity
To accelerate its refocusing on the cloud and the three other pillars on which Atos wants to build its future - digital (digitization of businesses), security and "decarbonization" - the group has announced that it is seeking to sell activities representing up to 'to 20% of its activity. Atos is
"looking for partners"
in particular for its data center hosting activities and associated services, for its telecommunications activities, and
"sub-critical" activities
in relation to its core business, which it does not has not been explained.
"The group has decided to move forward quickly"
on this file, he said.
In Germany, Atos has also signed a departure plan with the IG Metall union for around 1,300 employees in traditional infrastructure activities,
"with the aim of reviving these activities".
"The agreement also includes the freezing of collective wage increases for staff operating in the areas concerned, until the end of 2023"
, according to the Atos
press
release.
"No anomaly" in the accounts
The group, which made 11 billion euros in turnover last year, also hopes to have resolved the accounting problem raised by its auditors in two of its American subsidiaries, which had led them to issue a reservation. for the 2020 consolidated financial statements of the group.
Atos has closed its
"detailed accounting review"
launched after the incident, and the work
"did not reveal any material anomaly with regard to the group's consolidated accounts,
" he said.
The auditors are preparing to issue an
“unqualified” report
for the first half of 2021, according to the same source.
Read also: Atos shareholders reject the consolidated accounts
The IT group is also in the process of deploying a
“remediation and prevention plan”
to prevent such an incident from happening again.
“The main actions cover preventive controls, internal policies and documentation, review of human resources, skills and organization, and prevention in all regional operational entities
,
”
said Atos.
As of July 12, Atos expects its revenue to be stable at constant exchange rates in 2021, compared to a forecast of 3.5 to 4% growth previously. It also anticipates a drop in its operating margin rate for the current financial year (to around 6% compared to 9.4 to 9.8% previously forecast), and confines itself to forecasting a “positive” free cash flow, without More details.
