Atos Origin says net profit soars in first-half 2011

French information technology consultancy Atos Origin reported on Wednesday a 66.0-percent jump in net profit for the first half of 2011. The firm said net profit rose to 100 million euros ($145.2 million) from 60 million euros in 2010 and that its operating margin rose to 6.2 percent of sales, from 6.0 percent 12 months ago. Sales dropped slightly in the period to 2.47 billion euros, a 0.7-percent drop from 2.49 billion euros sales in the first half of 2010. Late last year, Atos Origin announced that it would pay 850 million euros for the information technology activities of Siemens in a deal that gave Siemens 15 percent of Atos Origin and 186 million euros in cash. The deal would create the seventh-biggest IT group in the world, Atos Origin said at the time.