Atos SE Additional Information on 2021 Financial Figures Conference Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Nicolas David - ODDO BHF Corporate & Markets, Research Division - Analyst : I have 3 as well from my side. The first one is, could you help us understand what was actually the underlying growth in Q4? It seems that constant currency growth was circa minus 8% in Q4, but you already told us that there was a bunch of exceptional items. So if you strip out what was really exceptional and what was underlying growth? And what kind of growth do you embed in Q1? And also, could you share some color about now that maybe you have more visibility regarding what you can catch up as soon as in Q1 or H1? My second question is regarding the deferred tax asset impairment. How should we think about it? Does it mean that -- I mean, you're just doing impairment because you expect lower earnings? Or should we think also that maybe you expect to recover as efficiently as a deferred tax asset and meaning that maybe the [effective] tax rate should be higher than the historically very low tax rate that your company was showing? And my third question is, could you share some date please regarding the goodwill impairment? We appreciate that you already said that's mainly linked to the legacy asset, but I understand that most of your goodwill was linked to Syntel, so could you confirm that there is no goodwill impairment on Syntel? Rodolphe Belmer Well, maybe I'll ask Uwe to help me on those questions. The last question, there is absolutely no goodwill impairment on Syntel because there is no reason to impair anyhow the value of Syntel. Which is one of the jewels of our company, which is actually the heart of our digital division and, meaning, one of the growth engine on which we count a lot for the future growth acceleration of the company. On the 2 first questions, maybe Uwe, you can help me on that? Uwe Stelter Yes. Nicolas. Yes. So if you look at what we commented in the January call as well is that, of course, we had, number one, the correction for that BPO financial service contract in the U.K., and we have also the deferral. So if you deduct from your -- and I'm staying at constant currency, if you deduct those 2 amounts, then you get to, at constant currency, close to stability in Q4 or organically slightly negative, of course, if you deduct the acquisitions. Which are the main effects we commented on, which is the BPO financial services contract and also the deferral or the postponement of activities. Of course, in Q1, we'll comment on 2022, we'll comment end of February when we come back with the financial numbers. Then on the second question, that was around the tax I believe, right, the tax topic? So I mean, our effective tax rate, if you really look at -- you can normally, on a longer term, you can calculate with, say, around 20% to 25%, more 20% right now as our effective tax rate. And of course, in the past, we had always some fluctuations a bit, especially with Worldline, in and out, which, of course, distorts the numbers a bit. But otherwise, we are pretty much in that range, and this is also what we expect for the future.