Dear Shareholders,

It is my pleasure to address you as the Chairman and CEO of your company, Atos Origin, a leading high technology group, with more than 50,000 employees around the world, of which more than 42,000 are engineers.

Solid growth built on recurring business

In 2008, despite the developing economic crisis, Atos Origin demonstrated a solid sales performance with a +5.6% organic growth in revenue, underpinned by strong activity of its recurring business. Proof of our customers continued trust in us we signed many important deals during the year In France, we signed new contracts with the Home Office to implement and manage biometric passports; with ERDF to deliver a smart metering solution and with Michelin. We renewed contracts in Germany with e-Plus and in the Netherlands with KPN and NXP. In the UK, we signed some significant Public Service contracts as well as some new names in the private sector.

2008 was also the year of the Beijing Olympic Games where, after five years of preparation and under the spotlight of the world’s media, our team once again demonstrated its exceptional expertise at the world’s largest sporting event. Managing a team of over 4,000 people during Games time, Atos Origin delivered a flawless performance and broke numerous technology records to deliver the competition results accurately and securely to the world in a fraction of a second.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank on your behalf all our employees for their skill, expertise and continued commitment to delivering high quality services to our customers around the world.

Insufficient 2008 operational performance

With a 4.8% operating margin, our performance has remained below that of our main competitors.  When the Supervisory Board appointed me to lead the Group, they asked me to correct this situation and to accelerate its transformation.

During my first couple of weeks, I conducted a review that confirmed the strengths of the Company: strong customer relationships based on long lasting trust; solid portfolio of recurring contracts; leading position in our key European countries; market leading solutions especially within Atos Worldline, our specialized subsidiary focused on electronic payments, e-services and customer relationship management; and talented, committed and skilled workforce.

Atos Origin is at the centre of a structurally growing market sector. It has significant potential to improve how it operates by integrating the different entities which have been brought together following recent acquisitions; by pooling resources and skills; increasing global delivery and offshore capabilities and boosting its thinly spread innovation resources. The reorganization and transformation into an integrated Company will lead to strong improvement of its operational efficiency.

Swift and firm action

Immediately upon taking office on November 17th, 2008, I was strongly involved in the budget process. I requested the teams to make realistic assumptions on market conditions while preparing for 2009, and take strong measures to adapt our cost base and operating model.

In this context and to provide the Group with every chance to succeed, I have launched with the approval of the Supervisory Board, three key programs for the quick reshaping of the company:

• New governance structure
• Adapted operational organization
• TOP program

Governance fit for the Crisis

At the Annual General Meeting held on February 10th, 2009, the shareholders voted for the transformation of the Group's governance from a two-tiered Supervisory Board / Management Board model towards a single Board of Directors structure with a Chairman & CEO.  Leveraging the new Board elected with the strong support of all shareholders, the Group now has the necessary reactivity to operate in the more challenging economic environment and execute its transformation program.

An organization model to overcome the Group's challenges

In order to transform Atos Origin into an integrated global organization, I have decided to reshape the operational organization of the Company.  Effective since February 18th, 2009, the new organization has been designed with four clear objectives in mind: 

• Increase focus on clients and  global Markets
• Industrialize our global and local delivery capabilities,
• Boost our innovation potential,
• Move to an integrated operating model.

With the implementation of this new organization, two Senior Executive Vice-Presidents have been appointed reporting directly to me: Charles Dehelly, responsible for Operations, and Gilles Grapinet, responsible for Global Functions.

The TOP (Total Operational Performance) Program will improve our operational performance

I launched the TOP ("Total Operational Performance") Program as early as December 2008. It is key to our operational improvement and is designed to deliver the recurring savings that will secure Atos Origin's sustainable competitiveness. The program leverages an in-depth transformation of the Group and a significantly increased speed of execution to reach its main goal: weather the difficult economic environment and close the gap with the best market players in terms of operating margin.

Supported by over twenty cross company initiatives and the direct involvement of over two hundred team members, TOP is built around four major transformation levers:

• Leveraging the benefits of a global and integrated Group
• Closing the gap with industry benchmark on focused operational performance items
• Develop and implement lean management techniques
• Implementing sustainability initiatives focusing on both people development and minimizing our impact on the environment

Efficient and reactive to face the Crisis

Our Group anticipates that the economic and financial crisis will be long and difficult, especially in 2009. Short term, we must put particular focus on serving our clients efficiently, while being ready to react and respond to change.  I have therefore set a half-year rhythm for the Group. This has a  direct impact on how we set the targets and reward our managers as they reach their half-year objectives.

Atos Origin: well positioned to benefit from market evolutions

We must also look beyond the crisis to ensure that we anticipate the major evolutions of our industry.  Technology is moving increasingly towards shared infrastructure environments in massive data centers and virtualized business services. As technology continues to penetrate the mass market and interconnected communities develop exponentially, Atos Origin must further strengthen its e-Services and Customer Relationship Management solutions. 

With a strongly industrialized managed services business, deep technological expertise of its integration teams and leading edge consulting activities that through business expertise and innovation help our customers design new services, Atos Origin can leverage the strength of a global integrated and diversified Group to take advantage of all these opportunities.

2009 must be the year of Atos Origin's transformation into an integrated Company, whose pooled global skills will efficiently translate into client benefits.  With the passion of all our employees, their know-how, expertise and innovative approach, this will be the foundation of our value creation strategy and of our 2009 ambition to increase our operating margin.

With a new governance structure, a reshaped operational organization, and the TOP Program in action, the Group is now in a favorable position to face the challenges of the economic environment and build its medium term development.

Thierry Breton

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer