Atos shares were down on the Paris Bourse on Thursday morning, following the publication of first-half results that analysts deemed to be "very poor".

The technology consulting group, which is in the midst of a financial restructuring, reported sales down organically by 2.7% to 4,964 million euros for the first six months of the year.964 million for the first six months of the year.

Its operating margin came to 115 million euros, or 2.3% of sales, corresponding to an organic decline of 100 basis points.

Operating profitability was penalized by a violent deterioration in Eviden's Ebita margin (-2.3 points to 2.4%), while Tech Foundations' margin was surprisingly resilient (+0.3 points to 2.2%)", argue analysts at Invest Securities.

For the record, the Eviden branch specializes in advanced computing, security, AI and cloud, while the Tech Foundations division covers outsourcing services.

In its press release, Atos states that its free cash flow for the half-year was negative at -1,914 million euros, and that its net loss widened to 1,941 million euros, compared with -600 million euros a year earlier.

Invest's teams point out that the group has not renewed the outlook for fiscal 2024 presented as part of the financial restructuring.

Jean Pierre Mustier, its CEO, nevertheless reiterated that the opening of an accelerated safeguard procedure was a 'very important' step towards the company's turnaround.

We now have an agreement with our financial creditors, providing us with sufficient liquidity to operate the Group and giving us a solid foundation for the future", he stressed.

"This is the start of a new period of recovery and development for the Group", he assured.

On the Paris Bourse, Atos shares were down by more than 5% on Thursday morning in early trading.

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