Atos’s 2016 ambition outlined at the Analyst Day held in its Headquarters in Bezons, France

Paris, France, 15-11-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — Today, Atos, an international information technology services company, is presenting, at the occasion of an Analyst Day held in its Headquarters in Bezons (France), its ambition for 2016.

Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO at Atos stated: “As we are completing this year the three-year plan announced end of 2010, Atos decided to present today its new ambition for 2016. In this new journey, Atos will leverage both on its IT Services and payment businesses with the objective to become a Tier One company and the preferred European global IT brand. Atos has always delivered on all its commitments and from January 2014 will start to implement its new three-year plan focused on delivering profitable growth through disruptive and innovative offerings and strategic partnerships.”

2016 Group Ambition

The Group ambitions to deliver:

• Organic revenue growth: 2% to 3% CAGR over the 2014-2016 period
• Operating margin improvement between 100bp and 200bp in 2016 compared to 2013
• Free cash flow of €450 million to €500 million in 2016

The Group has defined 6 levers to reach its 2016 Ambition:

• Anchor Atos global leadership in Managed Services
• Reinforce growth and profitability in Systems Integration
• Bring to market disruptive and innovative offerings and pursue strategic partnerships with technology leaders
• Enhance number one position in Cloud services in Europe
• Further expand its foothold in the US and accelerate growth in emerging markets
• Provide strategic flexibility to its Worldline subsidiary, to consolidate its leadership in Payments 

Leadership in IT Services 

Charles Dehelly, SEVP Atos Operations, will present together with the management team in charge, plans supporting the ambition for 2016 in IT Services and more particularly in Managed Services, Systems Integration and Cloud computing.

This ambition in IT Services (Atos excluding Worldline) should materialize by:

• circa 5% revenue CAGR over the 2014-2016 period of which more than half stemming from external growth
• 100bp to 200bp operating margin improvement in 2016 compared to 2013

Ambition to complete an IPO of Worldline in 2014 to strengthen its development

Gilles Grapinet, SEVP Atos Global Functions and CEO of Worldline will present, together with the management team in charge, the vision, the strategy and the ambition of Worldline.

The strategy of Worldline for the next three years is focused around the following priorities:

• Reinforce its technological leadership on new payment means (mobile, internet, NFC…)
• Contribute to the digital transformation of its clients particularly with the roll out of its technologies and innovative payment solutions, allowing the adoption of new usage
• Increase partnerships to enrich offerings and services delivery
• Develop and consolidate a global organization with its highly skilled staff
• Accelerate the industrialization of platforms and technical operations
• Succeed in strategic acquisitions in new geographies and/or bringing new offerings portfolio

Worldline targets to deliver at the horizon 2016:

• 5% to 7% CAGR growth over the 2014-2016 period
• Above 200bp increase in OMDA compared to 2013 

Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO at Atos said: “An IPO will help support Worldline development as the company is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the consolidation of the European market. Depending on financial market conditions, 2014 looks to be the perfect time to do it after consultation of the appropriate employee representative organizations.”

OCEANE 2011 

Only two months after the early redemption of its OCEANE 2009, Atos SE has decided to proceed with the early redemption, effective December 18th, 2013, of all of the outstanding Convertible Bonds (OCEANE), issued in 2011 and due July 1st, 2016 (the “2011 Bonds”).

The holders of 2011 Bonds will have the option, either to convert their 2011 Bonds into Atos SE shares, at the ratio of 1.02 Atos SE share per 2011 Bond presented before December 9th, 2013 (included), or to receive a cash amount equal to €47,21003 per 2011 Bond on the early redemption date. A notice will be published in the Journal Officiel on November 17th, 2013, and in the Bulletin des Annonces Légales Obligatoires and Les Echos on November 18th, 2013.

Share buyback program 

On top of the share buyback commitment of €115 million disclosed on September 16th, 2013 (of which €55 million already achieved), the Company will proceed over the year 2014 with an additional buyback program totaling €230 million to be implemented by an independent financial intermediary as follows:

• €115 million tranche, representing circa half of net cash increase resulting from the early redemption of the 2011 OCEANE (in the event all of the bondholders decide to convert their bonds), the shares purchased are expected to be either deleted or delivered against other dilutive instruments.
• Additional €115 million tranche in order to enable Atos SE to transfer shares to the Dutch Employee Pension Fund of Atos and thereby significantly decrease Atos commitments pursuant to its Defined Benefits Obligations, it being specified that the principles of an agreement have been reached on November 14th, 2013. In that respect, an Atos’ Ordinary Shareholders Meeting is expected to be held in December 2013.

Overall, during the last two months, the Group announced its intention to implement a share buyback program for a total amount of €345 million.

A specific press release will be issued and will detail the conditions of the implementation of this program in accordance with applicable regulations.

Michel-Alain Proch, Group CFO, said: “With the early redemption of the two convertible bonds, the Group is in a position to simplify its balance sheet and to increase its equity, following the strategy to limit the dilution effect on these instruments through ambitious share buyback programs. At the same time, the Group took the opportunity to conclude an important agreement with the Dutch employee pension fund in order to significantly reduce future liabilities.”

The presentations will be posted today during the day on our website, in the Investors section.

Forthcoming events

Contacts

Investor Relations:
Gilles Arditti
Tel +33 (0) 1 73 26 00 66
gilles.arditti@atos.net

Press:
Josephina de Vries
Tel +31 (0) 6 30 27 26 11
jose.devries@atos.net

Benedicte Brissart-Rullier
Tel +33 (0) 1 73 26 13 97
benedicte.brissart-rullier@atos.net

About Atos
Atos SE (Societas europaea) is an international information technology services company with 2012 annual revenue of EUR 8.8 billion and 77,100 employees in 52 countries. Serving a global client base, it delivers IT services in 3 domains, Consulting & Technology Services, Systems Integration and Managed Services & BPO, and transactional services through Worldline. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, it works with clients across the following market sectors: Manufacturing, Retail & Services; Public sector, Healthcare & Transports; Financial Services; Telco, Media & Utilities.

Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. It is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is quoted on the NYSE Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting & Technology Services, Worldline and Atos Worldgrid.

Disclaimers 

This presentation contains further forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning the Group’s expected growth and profitability in the future. Actual events or results may differ from those described in this document due to a number of risks and uncertainties that are described within the 2012 Reference Document filed with the Autorité des Marches Financiers (AMF) on April 3rd, 2013 under the registration number: D13-0271 and its update filed with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) on July 31th, 2013 under the registration number: D13-0271-A01.

The ambition to complete the IPO of Worldline in 2014 corresponds to specific hypotheses subject to changes. At this stage, this ambition is under consideration by the Group but other options remain open. It depends on a combination of internal and external factors and no decision is made. The Group reserves its right to pursue, change, suspend or abandon this ambition at any moment depending on the circumstances. Should this ambition give rise at a later stage to a project, such a project would be then prepared, detailed, planned and finally put in place in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. In particular, the Group would proceed in due time and in an appropriate manner with all the applicable processes with the employee representatives bodies, the processes with the relevant authorities and any other applicable process and the project could be amended or terminated in consequence.

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