France bids to nationalise part of Atos' BDS business

The French reselling giant has received an offer to sell its advanced computing, mission-critical systems and cybersecurity products

The French government has expressed interest in acquiring 100 per cent of the advanced computing, mission-critical systems and cybersecurity products activities of Atos' big data & security (BDS) business.

This enterprise represented a turnover of circa €1bn in 2023, out of a total of €1.5bn for the BDS division as a whole. The 2023 revenue for the Atos Group was €10.7bn.

Atos told CRN the letter of intent is aimed at protecting the sovereign strategic imperatives of the French State.

" At this time, there is a non-binding letter of intent from the French state. The due diligence stage will identify any further steps that need to be undertaken to complete any acquisition," a spokesperson told us.

Recent struggles

The troubled French reseller emerged recently from a difficult Q1, where revenue declined across business divisions Eviden and Tech Foundations, by 3.9 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.

Group revenue was down 2.6 per cent or €2.5m in Q1.

The reseller attributed the Eviden revenue decline to softer market conditions in the Americas, which delivered a 7.5 per cent drop and the UK.

Revenue from Tech Foundations fell due to a "lower scope of work with certain customers in the Americas and Central Europe".

Operating margin held stable at 1.9 per cent or €48m, while net debt spiked to €3.9bn, reflecting a reduction in working capital actions compared to December 2023.

The Q1 results cap off a bumpy year for the Paris-HQ firm.

The reseller's operating income plummeted in Q2 2023, driving share price to dip as well.

In August, the company began talks to sell Tech Foundations to EP Equity Investment, a PE firm owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, but the negotiations fell through in February 2024 after the two sides couldn't agree on financial terms.