Visibility is particularly low for 2009. We expect sales to
slide back and margins to come under pressure. This could
result in excess consultant resources and may force
companies to launch more drastic and costlier restructuring
plans.
Fears over the most top-heavy companies may be fuelled
further by uncertainty as to their capacity to meet debt
commitments, finance restructuring charges and absorb
impairment losses on goodwill at the same time, and still
respect bank covenants and dividend pay-out levels.
Although risk seems low in most cases (Steria and GFI are
the greatest, in our view), our preferred stocks are those
whose balance sheets are the most sound.

Operational and balance
sheet risk intensified 3
Operational risk 11
Balance sheet risk 17
Alten 24
Altran 28
Assystem 32
Atos Origin 36
Capgemini 40
Devoteam 44
GFI Informatique 47
Sopra 51
Steria 54
Disclosure appendix 60
Disclaimer 63