Atos moves its Russian services to India and Turkey

In light of the Russia-Ukraine war, French IT consulting group Atos is moving its services currently delivered from Russia to other countries, including India and Turkey.

The company said that the feasibility of exiting Russia has required significant planning in terms of implications for business operations and employees based there. Atos expects the first half of the year to be affected by continued decline in classic IT services, combined with personnel cost inflation and supply chain tensions.

Rodolphe Belmer, who replaced former Chief Executive Officer Elie Girard in January, committed to start over with a clean slate after the Paris-based firm said it had taken total writedowns of about 2.4 billion euros ($2.56 billion) in the second half of 2021.

Atos' consolidated revenue rose 2.1% on a reported basis to 2.75 billion euros in the first quarter, leading the company to confirm its annual objectives. “These are encouraging signs that the group is starting to reap the benefits of the energetic turnaround plan engaged since the beginning of the year,” Belmer said.

Belmer also marked that the group had exceeded its large-scale recruitment target, with 8,234 new gross hires in the quarter, mainly in its digital and big data and security activities. The firm expects an accretion in operating margin and revenue growth at constant currency turning positive in the second half of the year.