The French IT group Atos, in the midst of a financial crisis, announced on Tuesday March 26 that it had recorded a net loss of 3.4 billion euros in 2023 after significant asset writedowns, while its debt caused concern following the recent failure to sell part of its activities.
Having entered into an amicable conciliation procedure with its creditors, this former tech flagship is now aiming “a global agreement” to restructure its debt “by July” and ensures that it has, with 2.4 billion euros in cash, what “to cover [ses] liquidity needs » until this agreement is potentially obtained.
Atos also announced on Tuesday that it would present “the parameters of its refinancing framework” during the week of April 8, when it has 3.65 billion euros of loans and bonds to repay or refinance by the end of 2025.
The loss for 2023 is largely due to an asset depreciation of 2.6 billion euros. This element consists of a company adjusting the value of an asset in its accounts compared to that which it previously granted it.
Atos management proposed a rescue plan in 2022 including its split into two entities: Tech Foundations, which brings together the historic outsourcing activities, and Eviden, which notably includes the big data and security (BDS) activities, the nugget of the group.
There will be no “no worries about the Olympic Games”, assured Tuesday the general director of Atos, Paul Saleh, while the French IT group is one of the technological pillars of the event organized this summer in Paris (July 26-August 11). The former French technological flagship, heavily in debt, must in particular ensure the management of more than 300,000 accredited people and the instantaneous dissemination of results, or even provide its cybersecurity services.
The group’s stock has lost more than 80% of its value
Despite Airbus’ withdrawal from discussions for the acquisition of BDS last week, just a few weeks after negotiations with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky for the sale of Tech Foundations, “Atos will continue to manage Tech Foundations and Eviden as two separate businesses, leveraging the strengths of their respective offerings, with a coordinated business strategy”the company said on Tuesday.
While Atos has supercomputers, notably used in defense and nuclear power, the French Ministry of the Economy committed itself last Tuesday “to build in the coming weeks a national solution for the protection of strategic activities” of the group.
If it was trading around 15 euros at the end of July 2023, the group’s stock lost more than 80% of its value, falling below 2 euros, bringing the company’s valuation to less than 200 million euros. euros.