An explanation deemed a little surprising by some analysts

Diving has been dizzying. The action of the Bull group collapsed, yesterday, of more than 30, after staying impossible to rate during all morning, following a downward revision of the objectives of the society for the current year. The it group now provides a stable turnover for 2006 instead of the 4 to 4.5 originally planned growth. The operational result should be between 13 and 18 million euros, against 40-45 million announced in February.

"The degradation of the performance of our Italian subsidiary is the major reason for the revision of our goals," explained Didier Lamouche, CEO of the group. According to the manufacturer, the freezing of public orders reached the Italian elections was extended beyond the expected period and should result in a decline of 30 to 50 of orders in the first half. "" In Italy, some of our public sector customers have not paid us for the months of October, November ", said Didier Lamouche. In this context, the Italian subsidiary should record an operating loss of 19 million euros in 2006 instead of balance.

Loss of significant contracts

Second factor of degradation: the evolution of the market of open servers or "open source". With a market share of about 3 in Europe in servers, Bull said have lost several "significant" contracts in France, including with public services. The Group believes that the pressure on prices has increased more strongly than expected since the beginning of the year, which should have a negative impact of approximately 6 million on operating income of the group in 2006. An explanation deemed a little surprising by some analysts. "In the first quarter of 2006, sales of servers dropped by 4 in value in Western Europe, but Linux machines market is still experiencing the most growth", said Nathaniel Martinez, consultant with IDC.

For now, the group left unchanged the objectives set in the Horizon 2008 plan (an average organic growth of 4 to 6 and an operating margin of at least 5 in 2008). But, in the light of the evolution of the courses of action, this warning clearly broke a part of the confidence of investors in the resurrection of the group. Of course, branch services expected to grow in the order of 10 this year with success in the telecommunications and security. "Bull has again become competitive in the area of operations and systems integration," said Ronan Mevel, analyst Pierre Audoin Consultants. But the excesses of the Italian subsidiary, after two years of difficulties, even raise the question of the effective control of the activities of the peninsula.

After the departures of the pattern, Chief Financial Officer and the head of the Italian subsidiary sales, Bull intends to resume control in reducing costs and changing the strategy. "We have changed management to reduce our dependence on public administration and focus us on SMEs and industry", explained Didier Lamouche. Remains to see how far the Group should go in this area, reducing the wing.

With a net cash of EUR 232 million end of December, Bull is however not questioning its acquisitions strategy in the coming months. A strategic axis necessary to reduce the dependence of the equipment group and accelerate its refocusing towards the world of services.