France's Atos posts sales dip, targets M&A from 2026

By Gianluca Lo Nostro (Reuters) -French IT group Atos reported a sharp drop in quarterly revenue on Monday, owing to key contract losses, and said it would only target acquisitions from 2026. WHY IT MATTERS Atos, which owns the supercomputers serving France's nuclear deterrent capabilities, completed a sweeping financial restructuring last year after financial troubles nearly toppled the former IT giant. It has since slashed 2.1  billion euros in debt, with banks and other bondholders becoming the main shareholders of the company. Chief executive Philippe Salle is leading a turnaround plan focused on divestments, cost-cuts and investments in areas such as defence and high-performance computing. KEY QUOTES Salle told journalists the mergers and acquisitions expected in the years ahead as part of his plan will not happen until September 2026 and will accelerate in 2027 and 2028. "If they're very large acquisitions, it'll take longer, but that won't be the case because we're not actually targeting very large acquisitions. We're aiming for companies with sales of between 20 (million euros) and 200 million, to put it simply," he said. BY THE NUMBERS Third-quarter revenue came in at 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), down 10.5% from a year ago. The company cited contract losses and voluntary contract exits, especially in one of its units in the U.S. and Britain, as the main reasons for this drop. Atos, which also provides IT services to the National Health Service in Britain and the Olympics, confirmed its annual forecast as well as its financial targets up to 2028. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

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