Kcom (LSE:KCOM)
Historical Stock Chart

From Apr 2019 to Apr 2024

Information technology support firm Phoenix IT Group PLC (PNX.LN) said Monday that strong demand for outsourced services known as "cloud computing" should help it to accelerate revenue growth in the second half of its fiscal year and beyond.

"There's a marked shift to [businesses] putting servers into the cloud, and the recession has accelerated that as people look to save money," Chief Executive Nick Robinson told Dow Jones Newswires.

Cloud computing is a form of outsourcing where computer services are hosted on a third-party's servers, and delivered remotely over the Internet.

Robinson said increased demand for such services will help the firm to increase the growth rate of its revenue, which climbed 13% in the half year ended Sept. 30.

Phoenix is investing in sales and marketing, as well as datacenter infrastructure, to cope with increased demand, he added.

Sales and marketing investment, coupled with the start of major contracts held back pretax profit in the first half, which was flat on the year at GBP13.3 million. The contracts, with Capita Group PLC (CPI.LN), KCOM Group PLC (KCOM.LN), and Torex Retail Holdings Ltd., weren't immediately profitable, but will contribute to higher profit in the second half, Robinson said.

-By Tommy Stubbington, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9268; tommy.stubbington@dowjones.com