Atos CEO says group's current struggles don't affect Olympics IT

PARIS (Reuters) - The current financial troubles at French IT firm Atos won't harm the company's ability to handle and secure sensitive data of this year's Olympic Summer Games in Paris, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

"I have no worries that we'll be able to do everything to make sure these Olympic Games will be very well managed from a support perspective", Atos CEO Paul Saleh told journalists.

He spoke as the group posted its annual results, overshadowed by the group's huge pile of debt and the recent collapse of talks with potential buyers of some business units to raise much-needed cash.

He pledged the company's current rescue talks with creditors and banks won't affect Atos' operational business as one of Europe's main providers of data infrastructure and cybersecurity.

"This process of discussion with bondholders and banks has nothing to do with the business itself, neither with our customers nor with our suppliers, so it doesn't affect the business itself," said Saleh.

As a Paris 2024 Olympics partner, Atos - through its Eviden business - will be in charge of cybersecurity services and operations for the games.

(Reporting by Augustin Turpin, writing by Tassilo Hummel, editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)