French IT services group Atos reported net profits up 68.7%, at $55.1m on revenues up 2.9% at $1.15bn this week, though it pointed out that those figures included a number of divisions of the group that were sold off during the year which ended September, 30. The figures do not include the results of Sesam, an Italian systems integrator that specializes in serving the automobile industry, which Atos bought from previous owners Fiat and Digital in April. Factoring out the spun-off business and including Sesam, Atos saw a 48.5% increase in net profits, to $42.9m, on revenues that were up 17.1% at $1.12bn. Atos also bought a consultancy firm in France called Statilogie last month. In announcing the 1997/98 results, group president Bernard Bourigeaud made it clear that, like most other European IT service companies of its size, Atos intends to continue buying while the market is treating it so favorably. The emphasis is on Europe, and the preferred targets are service companies belonging to big industrial groups, like Sesam, rather than independent ones already on the stock exchange. Bourigeaud estimates that the share of the company’s revenues coming from outside France, currently 33%, should increase to over 50% over the next three years, and to this end, Atos has just completed a reorganization of its operation in Germany, where it wants to double its business. The group also wants to grow its business in the UK, and plans to start up in Spain over the course of the next year.
