In conversation, when do you use "après" like this at the beginning of a sentence?

Question

On est solides financièrement. Après, si tu veux des chiffres, elle seule peut te les fournir.

I just heard this in conversation -- and numerous times before too -- but I wonder what is its synonymous expression?

Answer 1

It means "that being said". You can (or even should...) replace it by "Cela dit" or "cela étant", or even "quoi qu'il en soit". But note that this is very much a colloquial use of "après", you could hear it in some informal conversations, but it is something you should avoid in written or formal speech. I would not be surprised some people may even frown upon this usage and regard it as "bad" French. I have just looked in a couple of online dictionaries, and they don't mention this specific meaning for "après".