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Computacenter still experiencing buoyant market conditions

Published: 08:15 24 Aug 2018 BST

Servers
"There remains a significant amount to do in the second half to meet our recently upgraded expectations"

Information technology infrastructure services provider Computacenter PLC (LON:CCC) stuck with its full-year guidance as it released its half-year results.

The company raised guidance as recently as last month and said it was still experiencing buoyant market conditions.

READ: Computacenter raises guidance as supply chain business continues to excel

Revenues in the first six months of 2018 rose to £2.01bn from £1.70bn in the corresponding period of 2017. Services revenue rose 2.3% to £574.8mln from 562.1mln the previous year while technology sourcing revenue jumped 26% to £1.43bn from £1.14bn. Reported profit before tax climbed to £52.0mln from £47.5mln the year before while adjusted profit before tax clocked in at £52.1mln, up from £41.9mln in the first half of 2017.

Dividend hiked

The interim dividend was hiked to 8.7p from 7.4p the year before.

As indicated in its July trading update, Germany put in a strong performance with revenue growth of 11.4%, driven by a 53.1% year-on-year increase in technology sourcing sales.

The UK saw sales rise 29.5% from a year earlier, although performance was distorted by two very large low-margin technology sourcing deals.

“While the second half of the year is a more difficult comparison to the first half, due to the outstanding performance in H2 2017, 2018 is proving to be a year of significant progress particularly for our Technology Sourcing business,” said Mike Norris, the chief executive officer of Computacenter.

“The buoyant market conditions are being driven by a number of factors specifically, but not limited to, the need to increase network capacity, the constant need for enhanced cyber-security, workplace upgrades and a move to the cloud. While it is impossible to predict how long these buoyant market conditions will continue, most of these drivers have significant momentum.

“As always Computacenter will continue to focus on the long-term, investing in our business, innovating our offerings and enhancing our customer service. It is through delivering increased value and competitive offerings to new and existing customers which enables us to deliver shareholder value over the long term," he added.

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