(Reuters) – Atos said on Tuesday it was seeking to restructure its debt by July after posting record annual losses amid uncertainty over its outlook.
“We are also in discussions with our financial creditors in order to obtain a refinancing plan by July, as part of an amicable conciliation procedure as an extension of the ad hoc mandate initiated last February,” declared Paul Saleh , CEO of Atos.
A global refinancing agreement could lead to the issuance of new securities, Atos said, adding that it would likely result in dilution for existing shareholders.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, Atos shares fell 4.12% to 1.64 euros at 08:04 GMT.
The group, which holds assets considered strategic by the French government and which is struggling to turn around its loss-making activities, recorded a record net loss of 3.44 billion euros for the financial year ended December 31, after a loss of 1 .01 billion euros in 2022.
More than two-thirds of the losses came from an impairment charge linked to Atos’ two divisions, Tech Foundations and Eviden.
Atos says it still has enough cash to run the business at the moment, but its debt burden has become unsustainable, with 3.65 billion euros due by the end of 2025, recent attempts to injection of new money through the sale of pieces from the failed group.
Airbus’ withdrawal from negotiations to acquire the company’s most valuable asset, its BDS (Big Data & Security) business, came on top of the recent failure of negotiations with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky over the sale of Atos’ historic loss-making activities.
Concerning the Summer Olympic Games this year in Paris, the group wanted to reassure about its ability to manage and secure sensitive data.
We will be able to “do everything to ensure that these Olympic Games are very well run from a support point of view,” said Paul Saleh.
In February, the group postponed the publication of its results for 2023 in order to complete the audit of the goodwill impairment charge with no effect on cash flow.
(Report by Augustin Turpin; French version by Dagmarah Mackos and Kate Entringer)
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