France's Altran eyes Brexit boost from clients' spending plans

* 2016 revenues up 9 pct

* Altran (Paris: FR0000034639 - news) shares rise

By Alan Charlish and Clement Martinot

Jan 27 (Reuters) - French technology consultancy group Altran plans to boost its British presence, as sterling's weakness following the Brexit vote could prop up companies' spending on research and development, Altran's chief financial officer said.

"British companies are more competitive if the pound depreciates. For the moment we see no slowdown and we are determined to strengthen our presence in the UK," Albin Jacquemont told journalists during a conference call.

The pound has weakened by almost 10 percent against the euro since the UK voted to leave the European Union in June.

While a weaker pound can reduce British companies' purchasing power since imports become more expensive, it can also boost corporate spending because services priced in sterling become cheaper for clients based in other countries.

Altran, which provides research and development outsourcing services to industries ranging from aerospace to finance, reported a 9.8 percent rise in fourth quarter revenues for its northern European business, which includes Britain.

Its worldwide 2016 revenues rose 9 percent from the previous year to 2.12 billion euros ($2.3 billion), lifting Altran shares by 3.1 percent in early trading on Friday.

"Our industrial clients are continuing to invest in research...We are delighted with the development of our UK business," said Jacquemont.

He added that Altran's UK clients could relocate their research and development if necessary, given the global scale of their businesses.

This could benefit Altran, which has made increasing its offshoring capacity a key part of its strategic plan to reach revenue of more than 3 billion euros by 2020.

($1 = 0.9365 euros) (Reporting by Alan Charlish and Clement Martinot; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Adrian Croft)