Atos began 2024 trading at roughly €519 a share. By late December the price sat at €26, and the company was straining under €3.9bn in debt. That collapse has now drawn formal scrutiny from France’s national financial crime prosecutor and its stock market regulator, City AM reported.
A company that once guarded French and British networks
Before its collapse, Atos was a central pillar of the French tech sector. It served as a major partner to the French military and as the cybersecurity provider for the Olympic Games. The firm also maintained an office in the City of London. Across the Channel, its systems supported major UK institutions such as the BBC, the Ministry of Defence, the National Grid and the NHS.
As part of its Genesis restructuring plan, Atos cut its global workforce by 19 per cent, including jobs in the UK. The share price fall pushed the group to seek a rescue deal. The near-downfall and restructuring triggered a multi-track criminal and regulatory investigation, according to City AM. The Parquet National Financier and the Autorité des Marchés Financiers are both involved.
Shareholders target the auditors
In what City AM called a historic first for the French courts, 850 retail and institutional shareholders from the US, UK and France have banded together to sue Atos’s auditors, Grant Thornton and Deloitte. The claim seeks €180m (£153m) from the auditors. It accuses the two firms’ French entities of professional negligence and misconduct in certifying Atos accounts between 2018 and early 2024. It targets only the legal entities that signed the accounts, not individuals.
The suit follows the auditors signing off Atos’s accounts before the company nearly plunged into bankruptcy. Sophie Vermeille, partner and founder of Vermeille & Co Avocats, leads the claim. “Unlike the UK, in France, shareholders can sue statutory auditors,” she told City AM. “In France, there are many soft laws that make it seem that there is strong corporate governance, so there needs to be accountability for these laws to work.” Her Paris firm has secured litigation funding. City AM reported that the action is the first securities-law shareholder class action of this size in France.
A Grant Thornton spokesperson declined to comment on the client because the investigation is ongoing, but said the firm “has always conducted its audit engagements in full compliance with applicable professional standards and auditing requirements.” Deloitte was approached for comment.
A separate fight over documents
Vermeille & Co Avocats has also sued Atos for access to internal documents to support the auditor case. Vermeille called the court’s decision to order disclosure of seven fiscal years of Atos documents “a massive win for us.” Atos has appealed that ruling. A hearing on the document access dispute is set for September.
