Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Atos Full Year 2024 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one 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, Philippe Salle, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us this morning for 2024 financial results. I'm with Jacques-François, the Group CFO. On page three, of course, you have the normal, I would say, disclaimer. There is nothing new on this one. On page four on the agenda, today I will share with you some key messages. I will go on the business highlights on 2024. Jacques-François then will take the lead for the 2024 financial results. I will come back with key takeaways. Of course, we're going to take some Q&A after that. With the highlights first, let's start on the page, which is number six. I would say first on Q4, I think the good news is the, I would say, commercial activity on Q4.
As you can see, the Q4 book-to-bill, in fact, is very strong, above 110%, and stronger, in fact, than Q4 2023. We signed, in fact, a lot of multi-year contracts. It's both renewals in terms of contracts and wins. In the second point, we have 2024 revenue organic evolution. Operating margin and free cash flow is roughly in line with the outlook that we have communicated in October, which I think is very important in terms of, I would say, confidence. In terms of M&A update, we finalized the sale of Worldgrid. It has been done in the year of 2024, and we received the cash, in fact, before the end of the year. As you know, in November, we received a non-binding offer from the French state for the potential acquisition of what we call the advanced computing activities.
We have launched the sales process of the mission critical system. In fact, this month, in March, and if we have, I would say, the right level, I would say, of price, we will probably sign something during the summer for a closing, probably at the end of the year or beginning of next year. Finally, I would say on the right column on the slide, I think it is very important to understand that we are now opening a new chapter. First, we have successfully, I would say, closed the financial restructuring. It was done on December 18, 2023. We had, I would say, a credit rating of B minus with a stable outlook on our corporate bonds. Of course, there is now, I would say, a transformation plan that is on the way.
In fact, when I joined the company, I launched in December a strategic review plus a transformation plan. In fact, I will convey a Capital Market Day with Jacques-François and the top management in May. It will be on the 14th, where we're going to, I would say, reveal exactly, I would say, the strategy 2025-2028, and of course, a business plan for the next four years, for 2025, of course, and then the next four years. If we go on page seven on the 2024 financial performance, first, in terms of sales, we are at EUR 9.6 billion. It's roughly organically down by 5%. We can say roughly that the market was around minus 2%. It means that we have suffered a little bit more than the market, around three points.
Of course, this is, I would say, a normal, I would say, situation with the instability, of course, that was with Atos during the year of 2024. If we deep dive, I would say, between the two business units that we have, so Eviden is roughly at minus 7% and the Tech Foundations around minus 4%. In terms of operating margin, around EUR 200 million, which is roughly 2.1% of sales. It's, of course, I would say, probably the bottom for us. Surely, I would say the bottom. I think we're going to rebound already in 2025. If you compare, I would say, versus 2023, first, there were some costs, in fact, in 2023 that were put under the OM for the separation that is, of course, no longer an option. And it was a circle of roughly EUR 100 million.
We made some provisions, in fact, in 2024, what we call on the red or black accounts, around EUR 40 million. The group free cash flow is minus EUR 2.2 billion. You have to understand that we completely stop what we call the working capital optimization. It has an impact roughly of EUR 1.5 billion, I would say, on the cash. We have also higher CapEx coming from the HPC. That's a one-off, I would say. It's not going to be repeated, in fact, in 2025. It was around, I would say, EUR 200 million plus. That was, of course, I would say, as affected, I would say, the cash flow of 2023. If I go now on page eight for the, I would say, the order entry and the commercial performance, it's roughly EUR 8 billion. As I say, EUR 2.7 billion in Q4.
I think we have been, we have been able, I would say, to see a good rebound, I would say, on the Q4 activity. Also because most of the clients were waiting, I would say, the end of the financial restructuring. In fact, we signed a lot of contracts in December. You have, after that, of course, by business line, Eviden has a book-to-bill. In Q4, at 111% and roughly at 88% during the year of 2024. Tech Foundations, the Q4 was at 122%, which is quite a good, I would say, performance. Book-to-bill, around a little bit below 80% also for the year 2024. I put, I would say, some examples of what we have been able, I would say, to negotiate during the Q4 in banks, in public sector, Carroll Toll Company, and Health Insurance.
If we go on the page nine, so the revenues, I would say, by regions, as you can see, we are quite balanced, finally, I would say, between North America, U.K., Benelux, what we call Central Europe, includes Germany, Southern Europe, and what we call also growing markets, which is, of course, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Asia. Let's deep dive, I would say, let's say, region by region, and let's start with North America. In fact, in North America, the revenue was minus 12%. It has been quite, I would say, a difficult environment. Probably, I would say, for me, I was in the U.S. last week. I think that a lot of, let's say, U.S. corporations were more sensitive, I would say, to the financial situation of Atos. That's why we lost some of the, I would say, some contracts in this area.
The good sign that we have, in fact, is some of them are restarting, I would say, to renegotiate some contracts with us, which I think it's a good sign, I would say, for 2025. On page 11, in the U.K., also, it has been quite tough, but we've also decided, I would say, to stop some contracts. Remember also that we have the BPO activity is mainly located in the U.K. This one, in fact, was a double-digit decline. Benelux and Nordics on page 12, quite healthy, I would say, growth at around 5%. It's also, I would say, done with, I would say, a good performance with Eviden. Of course, an HPC that was sold in Denmark. Tech Foundations was slightly declining with some contracts completion. Central Europe, which includes, I would say, Germany, it's roughly minus 2%.
We had roughly a small decline for both Eviden and Tech Foundations. We have also a scope reduction, in fact, in some sectors. You know that, for example, Germany, of course, in the automotive sector is, I would say, suffering quite heavily. On page 14, Southern Europe, which is mainly France and, in fact, Spain, we have, I would say, a slight decrease, I would say, compared to, I would say, competitors. Nothing, I would say, to say, I would say, particularly, I would say, in this region. Finally, on the growing markets, it, of course, it has been, so it is on page 15, it has been also driven, I would say, by the Olympics because the Olympic contracts, I would say, is in this region. We have, I would say, a strong growth, I would say, on Tech Foundations because of the Olympics.
Eviden, we had, I would say, some declines, but it's also because, I would say, the base is not really comparable with the HPC, as we have done, I would say, quite a good year in 2023. To finalize, before I give the floor to Jacques-François, I think the good news is the attrition rate on page 16. As you can see, it's around 15%. It's, I would say, compared, I would say, to the normal years for us. There was not a leakage, I would say, of employees in the company. Of course, I think it's a good sign to see that finally, I would say, most of our workforce has been able, I would say, to stay with the company. Of course, we are now, I would say, aiming to probably decrease this attrition rate in the future.
The retention of the key employees also is very important at 92%, which, of course, is important as it is the workforce, of course, that is driving the group going forward. With now, I give the floor to Jacques-François to give you the, I would say, the highlights, of course, of the financial results. Thank you very much, Philippe, and good morning to you all. Our consolidated financial statements have been established, as usual, on a going concern basis. All the numbers I will comment upon today are in EUR. I will give you, of course, a snapshot of our key financial numbers for 2024. As Philippe just commented, the group revenue was EUR 9.6 billion in 2024, down 5.4% organically compared with 2023, with Eviden down 6.7%, and Tech Foundations declining by 4.1%.
Group operating margin was EUR 199 million, representing 2.1% of revenue, down 200 basis points organically compared with fiscal year 2023. Free cash flow was minus EUR 2.2 billion for the full year, largely explained by the end of one of working capital optimization actions, which resulted in a EUR 1.5 billion decrease compared with December 2023, as well as by higher CapEx linked to HPC contracts. The nominal value of our debt, the net debt post-financial restructuring, was EUR 1.2 billion. As you can see in our accounts, the book value of our debt in IFRS was actually EUR 0.3 billion because it included an IFRS 9 debt fair value treatment, which reduced its value by nearly a billion, EUR 963 million, in order to reflect the mark-to-market. This EUR 963 million would be amortized in subsequent years.
Net loss group share was EUR 0.2 billion, primarily reflecting a EUR 2.7 billion financial gain related to the financial restructuring of the group, a EUR 1 billion income from the IFRS 9 debt fair value treatment, and a goodwill and other current asset impairment charge of EUR 2.4 billion. Let me guide you through our revenue evolution in 2024. Our revenue evolution is explained by two main drivers. Firstly, the organic revenue decrease of -5.4%, as Philippe just said, driven by previously established contract terminations or scope reductions, as well as market softness in key geographies. Secondly, of course, the scope changes over the past years with the divestitures in 2023 of UCC, EcoAct, State Street Joint Venture, and to a lesser extent, Worldgrid, at the end of 2024. The organic revenue evolution percentage is in line with the business outlook we provided in October.
This leads to a full year revenue of EUR 9.7 billion. Regarding our profitability, the group operating margin was EUR 199 million, representing 2.1% of revenue, down 210 basis points compared to 2023. As a general comment, the margin decrease comes mainly from two one-off items. Firstly, the allocation to the business of EUR 103 million additional SG&A. In 2023, these internal costs, because they were unusual, abnormal, and infrequent, because they related to the separation project that was conducted at that time, they were classified below the operating margin in the other operating income and expense line of our P&L. Secondly, circa EUR 40 million of provision for underperforming contracts following negotiations with customers. Now, per business line, Eviden's operating margin was EUR 90 million, representing 2% of revenue, down 350 basis points.
Beyond the allocation of SG&A costs representing EUR 48 million, profitability was also impacted by revenue decrease and lower utilization of resources. Tech Foundations operating margin was EUR 109 million, representing 2.2% of revenue, down by 70 basis points. The business benefited from the positive impacts from the continued execution of the transformation program and the accelerated reduction of underperforming contracts. That was offset by higher allocation of SG&A costs to the business for EUR 55 million for Tech Foundations. I will now walk you through the rest of the P&L. Non-recurring items were a net expense of EUR 2.9 billion. I will comment upon the key elements there. Firstly, reorganization costs amounted to EUR 119 million, a strong reduction compared with the EUR 696 million incurred last year.
Reorganization costs include notably the workforce adaptation measures for EUR 56 million compared with EUR 343 million in 2023, as the group limited restructuring expenses in order to manage its cash position during 2024. It also includes separation and transformation costs for EUR 42 million related to the last cost of the legal carve-out, which was launched in 2022 as part of the separation project. As a reminder, these carve-out costs amounted to EUR 353 million in 2023, about one-third being internal costs and the rest being mostly external consulting and legal costs. Secondly, rationalization and associated costs amounted to EUR 37 million and corresponded to the continuation of the data centers consolidation program. Thirdly, goodwill and other non-current asset impairment charge amounted to EUR 2.4 billion. I'm sure you all know, but just to make things clear, I remind you that this charge is a non-cash item.
Impairment amounted to EUR 1.5 billion for the first half of the year and EUR 0.8 billion in the second semester, reflecting the decrease of the group's enterprise value, which takes into account a lower fair value of the financial debts and a lower market capitalization. Remaining goodwill on the balance sheet at the end of the year amounted to circa EUR 600 million. Finally, in 2024, other items were a net expense of EUR 288 million. It included EUR 74 million of net capital gain related to the sale of Worldgrid, offset by additional losses recognized on past transactions.
It also included the reassessment of onerous contracts that were accounted for in OOI in previous years for EUR 160 million, settlement and legal fees related to major litigations for EUR 96 million, current asset write-off for EUR 78 million, and net cost of pension and early retirement programs in Germany. Net financial income amounted to EUR 3.1 billion in 2024 compared with a net charge of EUR 227 million in 2023. This increase results from higher interest rates, increased drawings on our SCF, as well as interest paid on the interim financing and on the new debt structure. Secondly, net financial gain amounted to EUR 3.5 billion in 2024. This topic is so important, we have added a page on the next page to elaborate and explain the financial impact of the debt restructuring. Let's go through that.
As you can see on the screen, the EUR 3.5 billion is made of four main elements. The largest one to the left is recognized as a gain recognized for EUR 2.8 billion upon the conversion of the debt into equity. Then, there is a EUR 965 million income, which was recognized following the fair value treatment applied on our debt according to IFRS 9. This amount will be amortized in subsequent years. An expense of EUR 45 million related to the issuance of the warrants was recognized, as well as the cost and fees of the financial restructuring amounting to EUR 165 million. Thirdly, in 2024, other financial expenses amounted to EUR 221 million.
It included EUR 78 million of exit fees on interim financing loans, a lease liability interest of EUR 36 million, higher than in 2023 due to higher discount rates, pension-related financial expense of EUR 30 million, a net foreign exchange loss including hedges of EUR 29 million, and prior year transaction costs, which were fully amortized in 2024 in the context of the financial restructuring of the group for EUR 15 million. The tax charge for 2024 was EUR 214 million, increasing by EUR 102 million compared with 2023. This increase was primarily driven by a EUR 59 million valuation allowance on DTA recognized in past years, reflecting the latest business plan of the group and reduced taxable income perspective. On top of that, EUR 37 million of non-recoverable withholding tax paid on dividend distributions. Turning now to our free cash flow statement. Free cash flow was minus EUR 2.2 billion in 2024.
Let me highlight the key elements there. Firstly, the free cash flow for the year reflects the end of the one-off working capital optimization actions for EUR 1.5 billion compared to December 31, 2023. Details of these working capital actions will be shown on the next page. Capital expenditures increased by EUR 239 million, reflecting increased investments in client projects, particularly for a significant investment in the energy-efficient exascale technology. As we said before, we are no longer doing any one-off actions to optimize our working capital. The EUR 319 million you can see here to the right consists only of customer payments received in advance of the inverse due date. I insist, we have not given any discount for this cash in advance, nor have we orchestrated it. This comes purely from large public sector companies, customers in various countries, various industries.
As a reminder, working capital optimization amounted to EUR 1.8 billion at the end of December 2023. Logically, the impact on this year's cash flow statement was minus EUR 1.5 billion. Going forward, our intention is to put in place measures to improve our working capital in a sustainable and recurring manner. The total of reorganization, rationalization, and associated costs, and integration and acquisition costs reached EUR 256 million compared with EUR 660 million in 2023. Indeed, the group limited restructuring expense to manage its cash position in 2024. Cash out related to other changes amounted to EUR 504 million. This amount included costs incurred on onerous contracts for EUR 166 million, for the most part in relation to the contracts that were accounted for in other items in previous years.
It also comprised expenses related to financial restructuring for EUR 226 million, out of which EUR 110 million of external advisor costs, EUR 38 million of lender fees, and EUR 78 million of exit fee on the interim financing we had in 2024. The litigation costs, including the cash disbursed to settle a major litigation, are also reported on that line. In conclusion, the group reports a negative free cash flow of minus EUR 2.2 billion in 2024, reflecting the end of one-off working capital optimization actions for EUR 1.5 billion and higher CapEx linked to HPC contracts for EUR 0.2 billion. The net cash impact resulting from net disposals amounted to EUR 162 million, mainly relating to the net cash proceeds generated by the Worldgrid disposal for EUR 232 million, including fees on disposals. This also included the write-off of a receivable on a past disposal.
To conclude on the cash flow statement, let me spend a moment on what was the impact of the capital increases of our net debt. Following the successful closing of our financial restructuring on December 18th, we have restored our liquidity profile and reduced significantly our debt. This translated into EUR 145 million of new money equity raised from the rights issue, as well as EUR 2.9 billion of equitization of existing financial debt. The total net debt for the group amounted to EUR 275 million, including EUR 965 million IFRS 9 debt fair value treatment, which will be amortized in subsequent years. As a reminder, before this IFRS 9 debt fair value treatment, the nominal value of our debt amounted to EUR 1.2 billion. The group did not pay dividends in 2024.
The numbers you see on the screen related to the withholding tax paid by certain subsidiaries on internal dividend distribution and dividend paid to minority interest. To conclude my presentation, I would like to present to you our new financing structure and maturity. Cash, cash equivalent, and short-term financial assets at year-end were EUR 1.8 billion, meaning we have sufficient liquidity to operate at midterm and to execute our business plan. As a reminder, the EUR 440 million of revolving credit facility is undrawn at the end of 2024. Consequently, our gross debt at December 2024 is EUR 3.1 billion. You can see on this slide the breakdown between bonds, loans, and RCF.
We have no maturity before December 2029, with the first lien debt of EUR 1.8 billion, including the RCF, having a maturity in December 2029, the 1.5 lien debt of EUR 1.9 billion in December 2030, and the second lien debt of EUR 0.5 billion in December 2032. All these amounts include the debts related to the interest in kind. I will now hand over back to Philippe. Thank you, Jacques-François. I think we are now ready for this new chapter for Atos. Now that I would say the financial restructuring has been completed in December, we can now focus on the transformation journey, which, of course, is very important. The idea, of course, is to provide the highest level of support to our customers through innovation and quality. First, we have a new governance in place.
We have now a combined Chairman and CEO role, and we have a reduced board of eight directors with a strong and recognized dominox expertise. Two, there is a transformation plan in motion. In fact, I launched early December a strategic review, and also there is a launch of a transformation plan during the Q4 last year. Of course, this will give, of course, a lot of results in the course of 2025 and 2026. Three, I think the leader team now is appointed. The top 20 is almost complete. I would say what I call the management team, around 200 people, now are ready, I would say, to deliver, I would say, the results we are looking at, of course, for 2025 and the next years.
Finally, as I say, there was a strong commercial activity in Q4, and we are, I would say, quite confident also that we will continue to have some good results in the course of 2025. As I say in my introduction, I will give you, I would say, we will meet you, I would say, on the 14th of May in France, in Paris. We do not know exactly where is the venue, but we will, of course, come back to you and, of course, the timing. I will present, of course, with Jacques-François and some of the top management my vision for Atos for the 2025-2028 plan. It is a four-year plan. Of course, this year plus the next three years, we will give also guidance for 2025, and we will also give a guidance for 2028. With this operator, we can start the Q&A session. Thank you.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. We will now take the first question from the line of Frederic Boulan from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Frederic Boulan from Bank of America, please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, Philippe and Jacques-François. Thanks for the presentation. A couple of questions for me. First of all, in Q4, if you can give us any sense of, when you look at the operating performance of Eviden and Tech Foundations, what was the impact of kind of contract termination within the kind of organic revenue decline? Specifically, you point out to some HPC delivery in Denmark and Germany.
It would be great here if you could also give a bit of quantification around the positive impact around those. More broadly, when we look at the trajectory in the next couple of years, I mean, the pre-restructuring, you had this kind of very useful flow chart to kind of paint a picture of where you plan to be in the medium term in terms of leverage, cash flow, etc. I understand you will give us all that detail on the 14th of May, but it would be interesting to understand, at least for 2025, any thoughts you have around free cash flow, any specific elements you want to call out.
I mean, you mentioned margin should probably not worsen further, but anything else you can say in terms of where we're trending versus the previous plan and what you've presented to debt holders versus the kind of current leverage target. I think you had a target of EUR 1.7 billion pro forma debt at 2027. So, any kind of color you can give on that would be great. Thank you. Probably on the second, I will let Jacques-François answer on the first two questions, but I would say, as I say, I'm not going to give any guidance. You can try. You can understand this. It's normal. I will wait, I would say, May to, I would say, give, as I say, the guidance for 2025 with a business plan, of course, for 2028.
You said that, I think, the lowest point in terms of margin and profitability, I'd say operating margin was touched in 2024. For sure, we're going to do much better, I would say, in 2025. I would say, except this one, I'm not going to comment more than that, unfortunately. You need to be a little bit patient. May the 14th is in two months. You will have, I would say, a full view of where we think we can land, in fact, in 2025 and where we're going to head, I would say, for the next four years in terms of strategy and also in terms of financial results. Jacques-François, you want to comment on this?
Yes, Frederic, I would say, regarding the top line, maybe a word of the Q4, which is a quarter of contrast, because on the one hand, as you pointed out, the revenue evolution was degraded due to the contract terminations or the scope reductions, both in Tech Foundations and Eviden, but more in Eviden than in Tech Foundations. Although, on the other hand, we have seen a rebound on the commercial activity with a very significant level of order entry. If I look at the period between the 19th of December and the 31st of December, so that's the last two weeks of December, we have signed deals for EUR 1.6 billion only. That makes our book-to-bill of 117% for the Q4, which is, we believe, a regain of momentum regarding the commercial activity.
Anything you can share around the impact of HPC?
Can you elaborate a bit on the question?
Yeah, you said in Denmark and Germany, you had some large delivery that helped in the quarter. That is great, but it would be interesting to understand what is the kind of scope of those wins?
Yes. I mean, we have, on Denmark, I think we made a press release explaining a big HPC deal in the course of 2024. On Germany, this is the very big exascale, I think the first European exascale, which is the Jülich project, which is still being developed, for which there was a high CapEx in 2024. There will be still news on this project in 2025.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Laurent Dorel from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, Philippe, Jacques-François. I have two questions.
The first is on the contract termination. Could we have an idea of the impact it could have on 2025 versus the revenues you generated in 2024? To have the full year impact would be useful. I was also wondering, within the large customer, in the next two years, do you see additional risk of losing further business? Do you think the situation has now stabilized? My second question is for you, Philippe, more precisely. You've been in the group now for a few months. What's going to be your main challenge in the next two to three years compared to your initial expectations? Thank you.
Okay. I will take part of the first one and the second one, of course. We don't expect there is only one client at risk in the U.S., but in fact, we're not going to lose him.
I had some news yesterday night. We probably reduce the scope, but we're not going to lose the client finally. We don't expect, in fact, any loss, at least in H1 for the moment, I would say, from the tenders that we have right now. We have, I would say, probably more good news than bad news, I would say, versus 2024. I'm quite confident, in fact, that 2025, I would say, we're not going to lose that much contracts versus, of course, what happened during the year of 2024. Now, to the expectations, I think it's important cash is king for me. I think I said to the team that it's important that I would say cash is freedom. It gives, of course, the possibility for us, I would say, to decide on our own future.
We're going to have this exercise, I would say, to make the sales growing back to, I would say, positive territory, which I think is very important for me. That's why I'm pushing very hard right now on the sales team. We have a clear chief gross officer, I would say, with all the GOs that is on the job. This, I would say, of course, is to make sure we're going to be, I would say, to have a rebound, in fact, starting in 2026. The second one, of course, is to adapt the cost versus, I would say, the size of the company to make sure, of course, that we have, I would say, let's say, a normal profitability versus our peers.
Of course, on the short term for me, I would say it's more important, of course, to shave cost and make sure, I would say, we deliver free cash flow. We will be a positive free cash flow starting in 2026. Exactly the plan, in fact, that we issued in September was, I would say, showing, I would say, positive free cash flow starting in 2026. I definitely think it will be the case. After that, of course, it's a combination between, of course, growth and, I would say, profitability. That's really what I'm looking at. Usually, the way I manage a company, it's always a vision, organization, people, and transformation plan. We launch the vision. It will be finished by April. The transformation plan has been launched also in Q4.
In fact, there was already a start of a transition plan before you arrived, and then I accelerated it, and you will show it. I will show it, in fact, in May. The organization is in place. It has been communicated internally. We have now the people. The top 20 is in place also, like the top 200. Now we are in the, I would say, finishing the strategy and starting what I call, I would say, the executive mode, which is, in fact, will be starting in April. First, the first question, which was on the top line, I think, Jacques-François, let you answer. Yes. I mean, Philippe said earlier that we are not going to give a precise guidance for 2025 today because there is this meeting point in May at the CMD.
However, logically, what I can say, you see on our press release, and you will see in our accounts that indeed the Q4 numbers, it's a reduction in revenue versus the prior year, let's say, of EUR 300 million in total, which is EUR 150 million for Eviden, EUR 150 million for Tech Foundations. Logically, the full year impact will keep going for the coming quarters. This being said, for the purposes, and because this is what we believe, for the purposes of issuing and completing these accounts for fiscal year 2024, we have confirmed, and we do confirm our view for the cash level and the operating margin level in the assumptions of the business plan, which was used for the accelerated safeguard proceedings, which still gives you an idea of the bottom line.
Maybe if I think it's just under it. Yeah, it's very important to understand we are cash focused now.
I think it's more important than the rest. Of course, the business plan of September gives, I would say, a negative cash flow this year because of the restructuring plan we are also continuing and accelerating, in fact. I would say that, of course, we take this as a challenge, and we will try to probably do better.
On the client side, I mean, you still have Siemens, I guess, as your largest client. I'm just wondering if what happened in the last couple of quarters may have an impact when you have to renew some pieces of the contract.
I had a long discussion, in fact, with the CEO. I would say we are, I would say, in contact. There is no, I know that there was a paper saying that we're going to lose anything from Siemens. This is not the case.
We continue, I would say, to have LC relations. I will be also in Germany probably in April. In fact, there is a contract in place still for the next two or three years. We are, I would say, fulfilling completely, I would say, the contract.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you.
We will now take the next question. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star, one, and one. The next question comes from the line of Adam Megyeri from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask if you could give some comparison on the one-off items in the free cash flow compared to what was guided in the safeguard plan.
I mean, if I look at reorganization and one-offs, it seems like sort of an add-up to EUR 757 million compared to around the EUR 600 million figure in the business plan. Is there any timing difference here? Do you expect the kind of total numbers for the year to stay the same as what was previously guided, or any comments would be helpful as to how these numbers compare to the previous plan?
I will let Jacques-François comment. In fact, in the business plan for 2025, it was roughly in the range of EUR 400 million. We expect roughly to be there. I will try probably to accelerate a little bit, probably the restructuring plan for 2025, just because I want to make sure we're going to hit the numbers also in 2026.
I would say, let's say, to be in the range of EUR 400 million, a little bit probably above, it's possible. I would say that it's not going to be a big change versus the business plan we had in September. Now, for 2024, I let Jacques-François answer.
Yes. Thank you, Philippe. Adam, if you look at it facially, the business plan, which we have been using for the last month, was without this working capital optimization actions. That's the main big, big difference. Once you neutralize that, we're actually quite close from what was guided and better off, actually. The underlying cash flow generation or consumption, rather, was EUR 783 million for 2024. It comes out that we end up the year at EUR 735 million. Obviously, there are variations line by line, and I won't bore you with the details line by line.
Basically, we have a positive impact of working capital. We have no, how can I say? If underlying your question is the fact of whether we will be worse off because in 2025, because we have been better off in 2024, that's not the case. It is comparable. There is nothing which has been pushed down further to 2025. We start the year, I can say, completely clean in terms of cutoff and items in 2024 versus 2025. Does that answer your question, Adam?
Yeah. That's great. Thank you very much. One more question, if I could, please. Just on the Eviden Q4 book-to-bill 111%, you mentioned some of these are multi-year contracts. Is there any chance you can give some guidance as to what the average contract length is in that Q4 book-to-bill number?
Is this good to you, you know what? Usually, the large deals is around four years. I would say the deals above 30 million per year, the length is around four to five years. On average, I would say, for us, it's true for Eviden. It's a little bit probably longer for Tech Foundations. After that, for the small deal, it's difficult. Usually, it's less than one year.
Within the Eviden number, even within the Eviden number, excluding Tech Foundations, there will be several multi-year contracts?
Exactly. Exactly. Yes.
When you calculate this book-to-bill ratio, is that all just on an annualized booking number, or how do you then compare it to revenues in the quarter?
Yes. Yes. Yes. This is on the annualized basis.
Yes. Okay. Great. Perfect. That's it from my side. Thank you.
No, thank you. Thank you.
There are no further questions at this time. I would like to hand back over to the speakers for closing remarks.
Okay. Thank you again, everybody, for this time. You can still ask a question if you want. I think it's very important to say that 2024 is over. I think it has been, of course, a very painful year for the company with a lot of ups and downs, I would say, news and counter news and whatever. I think now we are back to a normal company with a level of debt that is, I think, decent. Of course, we will, let's say, make the leverage will decrease. That is, of course, our goal. It will decrease, in fact, already starting in 2025. Of course, much more, I would say, in the coming years. As I say, the team is ready. The strategy will be almost finished.
I had a board yesterday, in fact, where we had a lengthy presentation. The transformation plan is in place. It is going to yield, in fact, some results, of course, I would say, as early, of course, as 2025. I am quite confident. I think we have a very strong company. If I can say, I would say, when I joined the company roughly five months ago, for me, the strength of this company is the client base. That is, I would say, unbelievable. I have been already touring Asia, in fact, Europe, of course, and the U.S. I have seen a lot of clients. I think I am quite confident that now these clients want, I would say, us to be back. I would say, of course, we have a strong also workforce that was patient, that has a lot of skills.
I think we are probably sometimes over-delivering, which I think is great in terms of quality, which I think is a good sign. I think it gives, I would say, quite a good path for the future. I am quite confident, I would say, on the rebound of Atos. It will be the revival of this very nice company. As I say, I will give you more flavor, of course, of what we are going to do in the coming years in May. I do not know if there are any operator, any other questions or remarks from anybody.
As a reminder, it is star one, one, but there are no questions at this time.
Okay. Thank you again for your time and attention. Have a good day. I will see, of course, first, I think there will be the Q1 results by the end of April.
I will see all of you, I hope, in May in Paris. Have a good day. Bye-bye. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.