Breton today runs IT Services company Atos Origin but is still at home when it comes to lean times and cost efficiency.
INTERVIEW-UPDATE
1-Atos sees rev upswing, in RBS unit talks
615 words
29 June
2010
19:11
Reuters
News
LBA
English
(c) 2010
Reuters Limited
* Atos Origin sticks to 2010 financial targets -CEO
*
Confirms in talks with RBS WorldPay bidders
*
Year-to-date order book superior to 2009 period
* H1
sales decline in line, growth seen in later quarters
(Adds
quotes, detail)
By Lionel
Laurent and Cyril Altmeyer
PARIS,
June 29 (Reuters) - French software services group Atos Origin expects an upswing in revenue later in
the year as it enjoys a pick-up in orders despite the uncertain economic
environment, its chief executive said.
Atos, which supplies IT services to
the Olympic Games and specialises in secure online payments, is benefiting from
improved business spending on technology in the wake of the economic crisis and
believes it can help the more cost-conscious public sector, Thierry Breton
told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
"Governments
are far from having exhausted all the cost-saving possibilities IT services can
give them," he said.
The group
confirmed it is in talks with bidders for Royal Bank of
Scotland (RBS) payment-processing unit WorldPay, but only as a
business partner and not a financial investor, Breton said.
"Concerning
this asset, we indicated we were positioning ourselves more as an industrial
partner ... We are in talks with candidates bidding for WorldPay," Breton
said, without giving more details.
There are
three groups in the final round of the auction for WorldPay -- TPG, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and joint bidders Advent International and Bain Capital --
according to sources familiar with the situation.
Britain's RBS has put the
unit up for sale as part of a series of divestments to appease regulators after
it received billions of pounds in state aid.
DEBT
THREAT
Despite
the uncertain economic environment as governments grapple with their debt load,
Atos' Breton reconfirmed the group's 2010 targets and struck a confident
note for the future.
The group
is forecasting a slight rise in operating margin this year, stable cash flow
year-on-year and a debt level close to zero.
"I
am not at all changing the criteria we are tracking ourselves against,"
said Breton.
Breton, 55, a former French finance
minister who was known for his dedication to keeping deficit levels in check,
said Atos had prepared itself for lean times and more cost-conscious
customers.
"Our
clients are going to have to manage with increasing parsimony their capital
expenditure and that's why we are investing more in high-tech transaction
services (like cloud computing)," Breton said.
He said
new business opportunities such as cloud computing as well as new energy
subsidiary WorldGrid would help the group grow over the next few years.
WorldGrid,
which specialises in "smart energy" applications, is expected to make
150 million euros ($183.1 million) in sales this year and should be launched at
the end of July, said Breton.
The
pressure to spend less in the public sector will also bring opportunities for Atos,
though Breton admitted there would be pressure on prices from government
cuts in Britain.
Atos Origin has a market capitalisation of 2.4
billion euros and competes with U.S. group Accenture and France's Capgemini
It has
said order intake in the first quarter rose 17 percent like-for-like to 1.6
billion euros ($2.2 billion).
Breton said on Tuesday the group's
order book-- excluding the impact of bankrupt German client Arcandor-- was
higher year-to-date than in the corresponding period in 2009.
Breton took the helm in 2008, replacing Philippe Germond
who left after running afoul of activist investors Pardus and Centaurus.
(Editing by Karen Foster) ($1=.8194 Euro)
