Atos on the road to recovery following bumper Q1

The French services group owes the growth to its ongoing reorganisation plan

Atos has posted an uplift in revenues for the first quarter of 2023, a recovery from its Q1 loss in 2022 as the company credits its strategic transformation for the growth.

Group revenues totalled €2.8bn, representing a 2.8 per cent year on year rise from its Q1 2022 figure of €2.7bn.

"Over the past ten months, the intense work undertaken by Atos teams, particularly with regard to the strategic refocusing and related internal reorganisation of the group, has allowed us to get our activity back on track, generate growth, and achieve gradual margin improvement, while preparing for the future of our two businesses, Eviden and Tech Foundations," Atos said in a statement.

"Transformation is clearly starting to yield results. Atos teams remain committed to ongoing efforts to sustain this positive momentum and continue to drive value creation for all stakeholders."

The company's Eviden business which focuses on digital, big data and cybersecurity services grew 9.5 per cent during the quarter.

Digital growth was driven by new business in application development and modernisation, particularly in European markets.

Growth was strong in advanced computing as the HPC activity continued to ramp up.

Digital security reported another quarter of double-digit growth, with an increasing emphasis on next-generation cybersecurity services and products focused on identity management, encryption and managed detection and response in hybrid cloud environments.

"Under its new commercial brand, Eviden reported another solid quarter with high growth, well balanced between its synergetic Digital, Big Data and Cybersecurity activities," said the Atos leadership team of Nourdine Bihmane, Diane Galbe and Philippe Oliva.

Last month aircraft manufacturing giant Airbus walked away from acquiring a 29.9 per cent minority stake into Atos' Eviden arm.

Meanwhile, Atos' managed infrastructure services, hybrid cloud, digital workplace, and professional services business, Tech Foundations dropped 2.6 per cent in Q1 owing to the reshaping actions which lead to a further managed reduction in non-strategic activities (BPO, hardware & software resale, UCC).

Total headcount was 110,270 at the end of March 2023, down 0.5 per cent compared to 110,797 at the end of December 2022.

In line with its objectives for the quarter, Atos hired 4,920 new employees in Q1 2023, compared to 8,234 in Q1 2022.

Update on Atos' divestment program

Atos completed the sale of its Italian operation, Atos Italia March 31.

The group described the close of the deal as a "new milestone" in the successful execution of its divestment plan.

Since June 2022, Atos has closed four transactions and signed one another, therefore securing 80 per cent of the plan's €700m expected proceeds.

The introduction of Eviden as a commercial brand within the Atos Group started April 3, meaning the company will therefore go to market under two brands: Tech Foundations will retain the Atos brand, while its digital, cloud, cybersecurity and big data business lines will go to market under the Eviden brand.

Atos aims to complete the separation project in H2 2023.