“Twenty times on the loom, put your work back.” If, as the poet advises him, Atos slowly hurries to get out of the crisis, he erases more often than he adds.
The IT outsourcing group is somewhat unraveling an operational recovery trajectory that the slowdown in revenues and customer losses in the first half of the year made too optimistic. The truth of September is not that of August, just as that of April was no longer that of February when cash consumption and net debt were increased by around 2 billion.
“The time of financiers is over,” assured its CEO, former banker Jean-Pierre Mustier, to “Les Echos” at the end of July. But not that of finance, which will remain overlooking the decisions of the future management.
The plan to reduce net debt by 3.1 billion euros is certainly still on track in the eyes of the group. But a growth gap, not much more significant than that suffered by its competitor Capgemini, has a disproportionate effect on the profitability of the year, revised downwards by the amount of the entire turnover lost at one and maintained at the other.
This will have to be maintained until 2026, when free cash flow becomes positive again. Unless the Penelope of outsourcing finds a Ulysses that will allow her to finish the work more quickly…
Atos shares, still above brokers’ price targets, have not yet fully absorbed all the consequences of the financial restructuring plan.Bloomberg, “Les Echos”
