Computacenter delivers more market cheer with strong H1

Computacenter has kept the momentum going after delivering a better than expected Q1 and updated investors on a strong first half performance.

The channel player provided an insight into progress in an interim trading statement that revealed H1 revenue had climbed by 18% year-on-year to pushy over £2bn. pre-tax profits climbed by 24.3% to hit £52.1m.

The UK delivered a 29.5% increase in revenue with those two large technooogy sourcing deals contributing to that. Germany saw turnover climb by 11.4% and France continues to navigate through a period of contract renewals with a much improved 1.2% decline and a 41.2% increase in operating profit.

The picture was mixed in the UK on the services side with revenue reducing on both professional and managed services but the firm is expecting better things in the second half. Some unplanned cost overspends hit the professional side and although the MSP side kept renewals ticking over it failed to win some tenders for fresh customers.

The Technology Sourcing, previously known as the Supply Chain part of the business, did well thanks to two significant deals in the UK that were one-off software license sales.

Mike Norris, Chief Executive of Computacenter, said that the business remained inline with its expectations but it had a lot to live up to in the second half because of how it performed last year.

“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," he said.

"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," he added.

Norris concluded by stating that the business was focused on the long-term and would make the investments required to keep the firm focused on that goal.