Atos Shares Slump After Unit Sale Talks with Airbus Fall Through

By Mauro Orru

Atos shares plunged Tuesday after the French IT company said that talks to sell its cybersecurity unit to Airbus came to an end without an agreement, and it postponed its annual earnings release for the second time while it assesses its next steps.

Shares opened nearly 17% lower at EUR1.80 in Paris. By 0850 GMT, they traded almost 20% lower. The stock is down more than 70% since the year began.

Atos had been in discussions to sell its big data and security unit to Airbus for up to 1.8 billion euros ($1.96 billion). Separate talks to sell its Tech Foundations business to an investment company steered by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky for EUR2 billion also came to an end without an agreement last month.

Atos said it is now looking at alternatives that will take into consideration "the sovereign imperatives of the French state." Some French lawmakers have sought to nationalize the embattled group.

The company has been through a tumultuous few years. It lost two chief executives in 2021 and 2022 amid a failed takeover attempt and a number of profit warnings that dented investor confidence.

Last month, S&P Global lowered its ratings on Atos for the third time in less than a year, saying the group could face challenges or delays in addressing its liquidity shortage.

Atos said that its net debt stood at EUR2.23 billion at year-end, down from EUR2.32 billion at the end of June.

The group on Tuesday also said that it was pushing its annual earnings release to a date in the near future. Last month, Atos had postponed its earnings to March 20 to give its auditors Deloitte and Grant Thornton more time to complete work on a non-cash goodwill impairment charge.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2024 05:07 ET (09:07 GMT)

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