France's Atos reports drop in quarterly revenue, but signals more client orders

By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Mara Vilcu

(Reuters) -Atos reported a drop in first-quarter revenue on Thursday, hit by a lower order entry in 2024 due to a sharp reduction of business process outsourcing activities in Britain, but signalled more orders coming from clients.

The IT group's revenue came in at 2.07 billion euros ($2.35 billion), down 15.9% from a year ago.

Both its cloud and cybersecurity divisions were hit by volume reduction in the UK as well as contract completions, with revenues down 14% and 17.5% respectively.

However, the group's order entry by March 31 rose to 1.7 billion euros from 1.6 billion a year ago.

Its book-to-bill ratio, which represents the numbers of orders received to those fulfilled, stood at 81% versus 64% an year ago. A higher ratio indicates greater likelihood of a business covering new orders.

"While top line remained under pressure, our commercial activity continued to recover during the quarter, attesting to the confidence and engagement of our clients," CEO Philippe Salle said.

Once a European tech champion supplying IT services to the National Health Service in Britain and the French military, Atos piled up 4.8 billion euros in debt after a series of costly acquisitions and a botched split project.

But it managed to stave off financial disaster in 2024 thanks to a restructuring plan agreed with its creditors.

It has already signed deals worth hundreds of millions of euros with the British and Serbian governments this year, recovering from contract terminations that weighed on its earnings.

The company also launched a reverse stock split plan in March to boost its share price after its latest capital increase caused massive shareholder dilution.

Salle, Atos' sixth CEO in two years, will unveil a new strategy for the group at a capital markets day event in Paris on May 14.

($1 = 0.8807 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Mara Vilcu; Editing by Varun H K)