What happened? We spent the day in group meetings with Sopra Steria at our TMT Conference. Investors have focused on short-term demand environment for IT services in general, Sopra Steria''s exposure to Defence in particular, and the drivers to a potential growth acceleration in H2. In more details: . Defence currently represents c. 13% of the group''s total revenue, with offerings including identification management, domestic security, control and command, administration, and logistics and maintenance, mainly in France and the UK. Although the vertical suffered from delays at the start of the year, pipeline is huge and growth is expected to accelerate in H2. SOP is well-positioned to benefit from increased spending in Defence in Europe, but the transformation of latest announcements in Germany for instance into accelerating revenue growth is likely to take time. . Public sector deteriorated at the end of last year and fell below the company''s expectations due to France, Germany, and the UK to a lesser extent. However, February has seen an improvement already with the start of new contracts, and March should further improve. . The UK will continue to suffer from the VI contract loss in the coming quarters, but the NSandI ramp-up starting in April, and other ''big opportunities'' the company is working on, should enable the business unit to return to growth in Q3. SSCL contracts that are up for renewal at the end of the year are expected to be extended by a couple of years. . Financial Services'' pipeline is strong thanks to very large programs at French banks (BPCE, BNPP, Societe Generale) making Sopra Steria more optimistic for H2, although it remains to be seen whether these programs convert into actual new orders for the group . Capital allocation: share buyback should be an area of debate for the board of directors, though it will have to be balanced with the midterm MandA strategy of the group BNPP Exane View: There are a few idiosyncratic...