Atos has abandoned its plans to flog its Tech Foundations arm to EP Equity Investment (EPEI) after disagreeing on the price and terms of the deal.
The French IT giant said it will keep looking for other ways to eliminate the loss-making business, which sells old-fashioned tech to big clients.
An ATOS spokesman said Tech Foundations is still up for grabs, but they will run it alongside their Eviden unit, which sells trendy tech like cyber security and digital platforms.
Atos started talking to EPEI about a possible sale in August, but the talks collapsed in December.
The company also revealed its latest financial results, which showed a tiny increase in revenue to £9.2 billion, thanks to Eviden’s growth of 2.9 per cent.
But Tech Foundations dragged down the figures with a drop of 1.7 per cent in sales, slightly better than the 7.2 per cent plunge in the previous quarter.
The company admitted that Tech Foundations is a dying business that needs a lot of investment to stay afloat.
Atos also reported a negative cash flow of £-0.926 billion in 2023 and a net debt of £1.9 billion at the end of the year.
The company stayed within its borrowing limits, with a leverage ratio of 3.34 times, below the bank covenant of 3.75x.
Earlier this year, Atos announced it was hiring Paul Saleh as its new boss after Yves Bernaert quit over a clash with the board about the company’s strategy.
