Computacenter unveils solid results

Computacenter has pointed to improvements at its three main operations in the UK, Germany and France as it closed the books on 2007.

The corporate reseller saw full year revenues rise 4.8 per cent to £2.38bn – its first revenue growth at a group level since 2003. Adjusted pre-tax profit climbed 12.3 per cent to £42.7m.

The UK, which represents 57 per cent of Computacenter’s business, saw revenues rise 5.9 per cent to £1.36bn on the back of strong datacentre services sales and product revenues. UK adjusted operating profit fell 11.6 per cent to £33.1m, partly due to recent contract losses and the renegotiation of its relationship with BT.

Hardware represented 59 per cent of Computacenter’s UK sales. Software contributed 13 per cent to the total, with services making up the balance.

The reseller also pointed to strong gains in Germany and France, which contributed 30 per cent and 12 per cent to group sales, respectively.

In France, operating losses were reduced from £6.5m to £1.8m, although revenues declined 7 per cent to £285.7m. Germany saw revenues rise by 8.2 per cent to £708.6m and adjusted operating profits quadruple to £10.4m.

Mike Norris, chief executive at Computacenter (pictured), said in a statement: “The strong performance in the UK in the second half of last year and the gains made throughout the course of 2007 in Germany and France, allow us to look to the future with confidence. We believe that we have made, and are continuing make, strong progress.

“Our strategy in the UK has led us to focus increasingly on datacentre opportunities, and we made useful further progress here in 2007. The acquisition of Digica was intended to accelerate this development and this business is performing well. In 2007, sales of personal systems accounted for only 31 per cent of our UK revenues, down from over 40 per cent in 2004, demonstrating just how much progress Computacenter has made in shifting its business mix towards the less-commoditised end of the market.

Of the credit crunch, Norris said: “Like many companies we are concerned that
the current credit crisis will have a negative effect on market conditions, however to date there is no obvious sign of this materialising.”

See also:

CCD appoints printing guru

Stuart Reid joins as business development manager for broadliner’s HP Smart Print Services team  18 Mar 2008

Computacenter chairman leaves for Northern Rock

Ron Sandler leaves corporate reseller to focus on new role at soon-to-be-nationalised bank  18 Feb 2008

Computacenter buys back shares

Corporate reseller Computacenter has cancelled a batch of its shares  08 Jan 2008

Computacenter checks out £19m M&S deal

Five-year managed services contract builds on existing partnership  14 Dec 2007

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