Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Atos Q1 2024 Revenue Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Paul Saleh, Group CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, Sharon, and greetings, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to draw your attention to the disclaimers on slide two. On the call with me today is Carlo d'Asaro Biondo, our Group COO, and Jacques-François de Prest, our Group CFO. For the agenda today, I'll share key messages related to our first quarter 2024, and some updates on the current discussions with our financial creditors for a refinancing plan. Carlo will cover in more details our performance and commercial activity for Eviden and Tech Foundations, and Jacques-François will go over the refinancing discussions. Then we'll take your questions. So now let's turn to key highlights for the first quarter of 2024.
Group revenue for the first quarter of the year was EUR 2.5 billion, down 2.6% organically year-over-year. The revenue decrease reflects a continued market softness in Americas and in the U.K. for Eviden, and we're seeing also lower scope of work with certain clients in Americas and Central Europe for our Tech Foundations business. Order entry was EUR 1.6 billion for a book-to-bill of 64%. Eviden book-to-bill was 83%, compared with 79% in the prior year, driven by stronger demand in high-performance computing. Tech Foundations book-to-bill was 47%, compared with 60% in the prior year, as clients delay contract decisions. Regarding the group profitability, operating margin was EUR 48 million in the quarter, representing 1.9% of revenue.
Our cash position was EUR 1 billion at the end of the first quarter, reflecting primarily a EUR 1.3 billion reduction of working capital actions compared with the year-end December 2023. Our net debt position was EUR 3.9 billion at the end of the quarter. As was already communicated last month, we've opened an amicable conciliation procedure with which is with the aim of reaching a refinancing plan with our financial creditors by July 2024, and that is done with the framework of a conciliation process. Discussions with our banks and bondholders are ongoing, and the implementation of a EUR 450 million euro interim financing plan is in progress.
Now, based on current market conditions and business trends, we're working on updating our 2024- 2027 business plan, and that should lead to an increase in the parameter of cash needed to fund the business and to a potential additional reduction in total debt. We will communicate any changes to that business plan and to the refinancing parameters to the market in the coming days. As a result also of this work, we decided to extend to May third the refinancing proposal deadline, in order to allow all stakeholders time to incorporate new information, again, that we'll be sharing with the market in the coming days.
Our plan is to evaluate all the proposals that will be submitted on the 3rd of May under the aegis of the conciliator, Maître Hélène Bourbouloux, and we'll discuss them with our creditors, and then we'll decide on the best path forward. Our objective remains to reach a refinancing agreement with our financial creditors by July 2024. With that, I wanna just turn now the call to Carlo, who will comment on our first quarter performance.
Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to go now into more details about Q1 performance. Group revenue was EUR 2,479 million, down 2.6% organically, compared with Q1 2023. Eviden revenue was EUR 1,164 million and decreased by 3.9% organically, reflecting continued softness in Americas and in the United Kingdom. Tech Foundations revenue was EUR 1,314 million and decreased by 1.5% organically, reflecting lower scope of work with certain clients in Americas and Central Europe. Regarding our commercial activity, order entry for the group was EUR 1,586 million, for a book-to-bill of 64%, down from 73% in Q1 2023, reflecting delays in contract awards as clients await the final resolution of the group's refinancing plan.
Eviden order entry was EUR 966 million, leading to book-to-bill of 83%, compared to 79% in prior year, driven by improved commercial activity in high-performance computing. Tech Foundations order entry was EUR 620 million for a book-to-bill of 47%, compared to 68% in prior year, as client delay contract decision, particularly in public sector, as we said before. Regarding profitability, group operating margin in the first quarter of 2024 was EUR 48 million, representing 1.9% of revenue, compared with 3.3% in prior year. Eviden operating margin was EUR 22 million, or 1.9%, down 330 basis points, organically reflecting revenue shortfall and lower utilization of billable resources.
Tech Foundations operating margin was EUR 26 million or 2%, up 50 basis points organically, reflecting the continued execution of our transformation plan. Let me now comment, Eviden commercial activity. Eviden book-to-bill was 83% and improved by 4 points compared with the same quarter last year. Order entry was particularly strong at BDS, which recorded a book-to-bill of 104% with three large high performance computers orders. I would like to focus on them. First, we have signed a new contract with the Danish Centre for AI Innovation, owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark, to construct a state-of-the-art AI supercomputer. This supercomputer is designed to cater to large-scale projects that utilize AI and prioritize the highest level of security to support Danish data sovereignty.
The new HPC is expected to be one of the most powerful AI supercomputers in the world, and its goal is to accelerate research and innovation in various fields such as healthcare, life science, and the green transition. We have also been selected by several French public administrations to provide a major expansion to the capacity of the Jean Zay supercomputer. This announcement marks a new step towards sovereign AI in France, and is funded by the France 2030 program, which was announced by the French president. The third HPC contract, signed during the Q1, concerns the capacity extension by four times of the Santos Dumont Supercomputer, securing the computer's rank as the most powerful in Latin America for academic research.
These significant wins illustrate the unique combination of our expertise in HPC, AI, and cybersecurity, which offers unparalleled advantages with best-in-class cooling technologies, advisory on AI computing design, data science on use cases, and expertise to design, build, deliver, and operate. On the side of digital deals, a contract with the federal office in Germany by using Red Hat technology, the authority is significantly accelerating its digital transformation process. The products and services meet all ethical law requirements, in particular, security regulations. A second contract, another one with the European Parliament, to implement and maintain an SAP-based financial information system. Let's move to Tech Foundations commercial activity. For this quarter, Tech Foundations book-to-bill was 47%. Business was temporarily affected by a slowdown in the commercial activity as we face softer market conditions. We also saw the impact of customers delay contract awards.
Regarding the contract wins, I would like to highlight these three deals. We extended a contract with an Asian bank to provide mainframe services. In Egypt, we won a contract with the government entity to support and implement smart campus network in order to facilitate seamless communication, high-speed connectivity, and intelligent data management. And finally, we signed a six-year contract with Macomb County in North America to migrate the client from an on-premise system to a cloud-based Atos solution, providing infrastructure services for the next-gen 911 call handling. Quickly turning to our revenue performance by region. As you can see, our business has a well-balanced geographic mix, with Northern Europe and APAC representing 30% of group revenue, America, 22%, and the rest of Europe, 45%. Quickly, details on each regional business unit in the next slides.
Sales in Europe, Southern Europe, apologies, was up 0.7% organically. Eviden revenue grew mid-single digit, reflecting strong activity in high-performance computing. Digital activity grew as well, benefiting from large contract ramp-up in Spain and with a major European utility company in France. Tech Foundations revenue declined low single- digit, following contract completion with banking and public sector customers, as expected. Americas' revenue decreased by 7.5% on an organic basis, reflecting the current general slowdown in market conditions. Digital services were down, reflecting contract completion and volume decline in healthcare and insurance. BDS revenue declined on a tougher comparison with the prior year, as the supercomputer was delivered in South America in Q1 2023. Revenue in Tech Foundations was down due to the contract completion and scope reduction of select customers, as expected.
Central Europe revenue was down 3.8% on an organic basis. Eviden revenue slightly declined, as growth in digital activities in Germany and Austria offset lower activities in BDS. Tech Foundations' revenue declined high single digit, reflecting delays in public sector spending. Northern Europe and Asia Pacific revenue decreased by 3.2% on an organic basis. Eviden revenue declined high single digit, reflecting a lower demand for public sector, healthcare, and insurance customers. Revenue in Tech Foundations was slightly up, with contribution from Asia and increased BPO activity in the U.K., offsetting some volume decline in the healthcare sector. To conclude, on the overall revenue evolution, I would like— next slide. Yes, good. I would like to illustrate that waterfall, starting by the EUR 2,806 million revenue reported last year for Q1.
That revenue was restated by EUR 16 million. This is due to the review of the accounting treatment of certain software resale transactions, following the decision published by ESMA in October 2023, as we explained already during our financial year 2023 results publication. Organic revenue evolution was -2.6%. That is EUR 67 million. Scope effect was negative by EUR 239 million, reflecting the divestiture of our Italian operations, of our UCC business, of EcoAct, and of the share in the joint venture with the State Street in Americas. Currency effect negatively impact the revenue by EUR 4 million. They mostly came from the depreciation of the American dollar, the Argentinian pesos, and the Turkish lira, not compensated by the appreciation of the British pound. Group revenue was therefore EUR 2,479 million in Q1.
Let's move to the group profitability. Group operating margin in the first quarter of 2024 was EUR 48 million, representing, as said, 1.9% of revenue, compared to 3.3% in prior year. Eviden operating margin was EUR 22 million, or 1.9%, down 330 basis points organically, reflecting the revenue decline, lower utilization of billable resources, and investment in advanced computing. Tech Foundations operating margin was EUR 26 million, or 2%, up 50 basis points organically, reflecting the continued execution of its additional transformation plan. Finally, we're adjusting our 2024-2027 business plan. And communicate, I will be communicating any decision in the coming days based on our current market condition and business performance for the first quarter of the year, as Paul said.
Let me very quickly talk about headcount evolution. The total headcount was 93,332 at the end of March 2024, decreasing by 1.6% compared with 95,140 at the end of December 2023. This means that during the first quarter, the group hired 3,079 staff, of which 94.7% were direct employees, while attrition rate in the first quarter of 2024 was the lowest Q1 over three years, at 13% versus 15.3 in 2023. Thank you. I will now turn the call to Jacques-François, who will provide an update on our refinancing solutions.
Thank you, Carlo, and good morning, everyone. I would like now to focus on the refinancing discussions. As a reminder, we have entered into an amicable conciliation procedure at the end of March in order to frame discussions with our financial creditors. This is to facilitate the emergence of a global agreement regarding the restructuring of our financial debt within a short and limited timeframe of four months, which could be further extended by one month if needed. On April ninth, we have also announced the implementation of an interim financing of EUR 450 million with groups of banks and bondholders and with the French state. The implementation of this interim financing is in progress. We also presented the key parameters of our refinancing framework based on our business plan.
However, based on current market conditions and business performance for the first quarter of the year, we will adjust our business plan for the whole year 2024 and onwards. This should lead to an increase of the parameter for cash needed to fund the business and to a potential additional debt reduction. We will communicate on that in the coming days. Consequently, we decided to extend to May 3, the refinancing proposal deadline, in order to allow all stakeholders time to incorporate new information. We will evaluate all proposals under the aegis of the conciliator, Maître Hélène Bourbouloux, in the best corporate interest of the company, including its employees, clients, suppliers, shareholders, and other stakeholders, while maintaining an attractive business mix. We will also take into consideration the sovereign imperatives of the French state. We are confirming targeting to reach a refinancing agreement by July 2024.
At the end of March 2024, cash and cash equivalents and short-term financial assets was EUR 1 billion, and net debt was EUR 3.9 billion, reflecting primarily a EUR 1.3 billion reduction of working capital actions compared with December 2023. Thank you for your attention. Paul, I think you can now launch the Q&A session.
Thank you, Carlo. Thank you, Jacques-François. Sharon, can you just really now move to the questions session, please?
Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Once again, if you would like to ask a question today, please press star one and one on your telephone keypad. Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We will now go to our first question. One moment, please. Your first question comes from the line of Nicolas David from Oddo BHF. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, Paul—
Hi.
I have just a very quick one. I'm not sure that you would be able to provide a lot of color about that. But when you mention a change in performance and market condition, what do you mean by that? Is more on the really operational side, because Q1 was pretty in line, I think, now in terms of organic growth. So I suspect that it may be more on the bottom line in free cash flow. Or is it also a market condition in terms of financing and appetite from potential investor? Could be a bit more precise about that. Thank you.
No, that's—thank you so much for your question. So, no, I would say a couple of things that are a little bit different. One is that we're not seeing the rebound in the market that we would have expected to start in for Q2. We realized that in the first quarter that it was a carryover softness that we had seen in some markets in the Americas and the U.K. for Eviden. And as we had indicated, some, you know, softness also for the Tech Foundations in areas like Central Europe or with certain type of industries or customer segments. So we were expecting some turnaround, and we're not seeing that. And that softness is seem to be persisting.
So that's the first thing that's, so it's a market environment. The second one is certainly, something that we're seeing also, which is delays in some contract awards as customers await, the outcome of some of our, the refinancing discussions in some cases. And some other cases, they're just really delaying their contract award for other reasons. And, that is also, impacting a little bit more our outlook for the full year. So we're trying to incorporate those two points in our, projections to make sure that we have the, appropriate amount of, understanding of, their impact on the cash need for the business, in the— for the 2024 and the 2025 timeframe in particular. And then, be able to just really make sure that, we reflect that properly in our key parameters.
As we indicated, we'll give that information to the market in the coming days.
Right. That's clear. And just follow up on that, yes, because of the book-to-bill of the foundation obviously is low. Is it something which is supposed to have an impact in the very short term, or given the very recurring profile of this business, it's more something which can affect the business more at the end of the year in terms of revenue and?
Yeah, I can give it to Carlo in a second, but I think generally speaking, the Tech Foundation is a little bit more lumpy, except that we were expecting two large contracts to be signed by now. And again, this is one of those circumstances where it's been pushed out a little bit. Decision has been pushed out due to, again, the client awaiting a little bit more understanding on the outcome of our refinancing. These are decisions where clients are, you know, wanna do work with us and just really waiting to see how this is gonna be playing out. But they don't have impact as on the Tech Foundation, things will not have impact near term, but much more more potentially on 2025. But I'll leave it.
Carlo, anything you want to add?
No, I would add, clients are delaying some decisions also, and in particular because they love the quality of the service and they want to stay with us. So Tech Foundations is a business of long-term contracts, so the impact for this year will be actually very limited. And what we believe is that as soon as the situation clarifies, we'll be able to rebuild the pipe. But there will be some impact, if there will be some impact, in 2025 for this, not in 2024.
That's on the Tech Foundations side.
The Tech Foundations side.
Yes, that's clear. Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Thank you. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone keypad. That is star one and one on your telephone keypad. We will now go to our next question. One moment, please. And your next question comes from the line of Derric Marcon from Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. Two questions for me, if, if I can. The first one on TFCO. So first quarter performance seems very good versus what you expect for the year. So can you help us to understand what would be the, the momentum of TFCO business in Q2 and H2 to reconcile the -1.5 in Q1 and the -6 that you target for the year? That's my first question, and the second question is on the bookings of Eviden. Do you have the share of short-term bookings within the EUR 966 million that you posted in, recorded in Q1?
I think it's a KPI you gave in the past that is really helpful for us to understand what would be the dynamics, the dynamics of your revenue for coming quarters. And also in this EUR 966 million bookings for Eviden, can you split that between BDS and digital? Thank you.
All right. That's it. It's just like you said, two questions, but there are three components. Let me just make sure. On the TFCO side, I think it's a good start. In a sense, it has a little bit more. The business is carrying on with good backlog coming into the year. So I do believe the first half seems to be pretty steady.
I think we're just really being cautious in the plan that we had originally given on the financial trajectory of the business, to make sure that, you know, the second half of the year will be more impacted by any potential, as I mentioned, a delay of, you know, new contracts or scope of work with clients until our refinancing solution is done. So I think a good start, hard to tell beyond, again, the first half of the year. The second question had to do with more detail behind the some KPIs. I think I'll have to get back to you. I don't have that information in front of me.
The other thing you asked is the breakdown in the book-to-bill, you said? Is that what it is for the BDS?
Between BDS and digital.
BDS and digital, I would say, book-to-bill, we said that the digital for BDS was 75%, and the BDS was 104.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Thank you. There are currently no further questions. I will now hand the call back for closing remarks.
All right, again, thank you so much. Look forward to, you know, we will be updating, as we mentioned, some of these parameters in the coming days. We'll look forward to, you know, being on our call with you at that time. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.