(BFM Bourse) – The digital services company announced this Wednesday that negotiations to sell its outsourcing activity had not resulted in an agreement. The group has also postponed the publication of its results.
It was the outcome that many were waiting for. Atos announced this Wednesday that it will ultimately not sell its historic outsourcing activities housed in the “Tech Foundations” division to Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky, due to lack of agreement.
“The parties did not reach a satisfactory mutual agreement. The discussions and the put agreement were therefore terminated by mutual agreement, without any compensation to either side. , the parties are released from any future reciprocal obligations with the exception of confidentiality obligations,” the company developed.
Atos will therefore continue to manage “Tech Foundation” at the same time as its other activities grouped within the Eviden division.
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Discussions with Airbus
The digital services company entered into exclusive negotiations last August to sell Tech Foundations to Daniel Kretinsky. Due to the decline of this activity and its cash consumption, the Czech businessman initially had to pay only around 100 million euros to buy these declining businesses.
But, notably following criticism from shareholders deeming this price too low, Atos and its new chairman of the board of directors, Jean-Pierre Mustier, tried to improve the conditions of this sale. According to BFM Business, Jean-Pierre Mustier wanted to arrive at a price of 500 million euros when Daniel Kretinsky did not intend to go beyond 170 million euros.
If this sale is therefore unsuccessful, Atos leaves the door open to a new sale transaction with another potential buyer. “Atos will continue to consider strategic options that are in the best interest of its customers, employees and shareholders,” the group declared in a press release.
Atos also remains in discussions with Airbus to sell its BDS (“Big data and security”) division, which brings together cybersecurity and supercomputers. The two groups are at the “due diligence” stage, that is to say checks prior to any operation.
Cash still in the red in the second half
This sale should make it possible to free up cash – the price relates to an enterprise value of 1.5 to 1.8 billion euros – while the group desperately needs it in view of the “wall of debt” facing he faces. The company must refinance 3.65 billion euros of loans in 2024 and 2025.
Atos had to renounce a capital increase and requested at the beginning of the month the appointment of an ad hoc agent to facilitate negotiations with its creditors.
In addition to having communicated the end of negotiations on the sale of Tech Foundations to Daniel Kretinsky, Atos announced that the full publication of its results was postponed from February 29 to March 20. This is to give its auditors time to finalize the audit on the depreciation of goodwill (the difference between the book value of an asset and its market value).
Atos, however, delivered the majority of its 2023 accounts. Main point of attention, cash was again negative in the second half, the group burning 109 million euros of cash over the last six months of 2023. The group had warned mid-January that the disbursement would be around 100 million euros. Over the whole of 2023, Atos burned a total of 1.08 billion euros in cash. At the end of 2023, its net debt stood at 2.23 billion euros.
Concerning the results strictly speaking, Atos achieved growth of 0.4% on a like-for-like basis in 2023, while its operating margin stood at 4.4% compared to 3.1% a year earlier.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, Atos shares lost 4.2% at the start of the session.
Julien Marion – ©2024 BFM Bourse
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