The year swill be heavy in investments for Orange, which needs to raise its share price on the stock market, which has continued to tumble since the end of 2019. After having opened the door to one, the incumbent 'now excludes the introduction of its cybersecurity unit, Orange Cyberdefense, on the stock market.
The operation, well received this Friday on the markets, could indeed prove to be a winner for the operator, which would thus promote one of its most efficient units. Really launched in 2014 in the wake, the branch headed by Michel Van Den Berghe, with around 1,000 employees, recorded a turnover of 580 million euros in 2019 , up 24 % over the year. In the first half of 2020, Orange Cyberdefense 's revenues also recorded an increase of 11%, despite forecasts.We are less optimistic for the second half of the current fiscal year.
In terms of external growth, the cybersecurity firm is not to be outdone, which recently acquired the British company SecureLink and especially , the Dutch cybersecurity group SecureData.
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A divisive solution
The hypothesis of a listing of Orange Cyberdefense , first relayed by Letter A , was confirmed by the CFE-CGC union, the majority within Orange, which is far from showing itself completely. favorable. For its representatives, this could prove to be complex and turn into an organizational headache, while "leading to a loss of synergies with Orange Business Services and itsassociated services such as the cloud or connected objects ".
However, this solution could impose itself within the staff of the incumbent operator as a means of bringing up the Orange 's share price, which has been steadily declining for a year, during which time it was close to 15 euros, to be below 10 euros since the second half of August last.
Built largely through external growth, Orange Cyberdefense is now aiming to gain a place on the international scene, facing the American, Chinese and Russian cybersecurity heavyweights. "Our main objective is to become a benchmark on the European market", summarized Michel Van Der Berghe in 2019, for whom the whole challenge of Orange Cyberdefense is to become "a benchmark identified at European level". A market where society could take advantage of the new international situation to find a place of choice.
