Atos Origin announced a backlog of up to date
Atos Origin will display an order book to date higher than the corresponding period of 2009, which supports the software houses in anticipation of a resumption of growth in coming quarters, said Tuesday its chief executive Thierry Breton.
He said Atos was in line with annual targets to increase by half a point to point margin at 6.2 to 6.7% from year-end debt reduction and cash generation flow of the same order as that of 117 million euros posted in 2009.
"We have a backlog that is higher than last year and which is constructed dynamically," said Thierry Breton in an interview with Reuters.
Atos, which counts among its customers Renault, EDF, KPN and Dexia, had earned in the first half of 2009 a backlog of 7.5 billion euros.
"What we had anticipated in the model of re-growth is consistent with what we see," added Thierry Breton.
He confirmed the expectation of a negative organic growth in the first half of the same order of magnitude as the 3.7% decline throughout 2009 and then a resumption of growth in coming quarters.
Atos, whose main competitors are the American Accenture and Capgemini, is well equipped to face the situation in Europe, where it generates most of its sales, since two thirds of its activities are recurring, "he stressed.
CONSOLIDATION IN THE AREA OF THE DECADE
Thierry Breton, 55, has led Thomson (now Technicolor), and France Telecom, before becoming Minister of Economy and Finance between February 2005 and May 2007.
He arrived at the head of Atos Origin in November 2008, replacing Philippe Germond, the strategy which had opposed the funds Pardus and Centaurus activists.
PAI Partners is the largest shareholder with 25% of Atos's capital, with 8.5% to Pardus.
Thierry Breton said he expected in the decade to a consolidation of the sector, still "fairly fragmented" worldwide.
Atos, which continues to look "systematically" all targets of acquisition talks with Royal Bank of Scotland and its partners for an industrial partnership with its subsidiary WorldPay electronic payments, he said.
"On this asset, we are positioned somewhat industrial partner rather than private equity funds.Is discussed with all partners and also with RBS, "said Thierry Breton.
Atos, which has issued 250 million euros Oceane in October 2009, had been in the running to acquire Italian SIA-SSB, which the British group Xchanging Outsourcing announced last week the takeover a 51% stake.
Atos should announce the end of July to finalize its new division Atos WorldGrid specializing in technology management Intelligent Energy, also said Thierry Breton.
The objective with this division, whose goal is to adapt the energy demand to the available power among producers and distributors, is to achieve a turnover of 150 million euros in 2010 and have doubled end of 2014.
Atos, which employs 49,000 people worldwide, has to hire 4.000-4500 this year, including 500-600 engineers in France, said Thierry Breton.
The staffing offshore Atos amounted to 5,000 in late 2009, over 70% in India where the group account increase from 800 to 1,000 people this year.
