Pre-Close Trading Update
July 13 2010 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMCCC
Computacenter plc
Pre-Close Trading Update
Computacenter is today holding an Investor and Analyst conference call to
provide an update on trading for the six months to 30 June 2010.
Overall Group profitability in the first half will be in excess of 10% ahead of
the same period last year and in line with management expectations. As
previously forecast, there were no exceptional charges in the period.
The first half of 2010 has seen good revenue growth on an as reported basis of
around 5%. Excluding the effect of the disposal of our trade distribution
business in 2009, we have seen revenue growth of 7%.
The growth rate in Q2 was marginally below that experienced in the first
quarter, but remains steady. We have seen a positive trend in IT capital
expenditure in all our regions compared to last year, with Computacenter France
and Germany showing signs of improvement, as the period progressed.
At the end of the period, Group net funds were circa GBP95 million before customer
specific financing "CSF" (net funds before CSF at end H1 2009 were GBP47
million). The cash position was flattered by approximately GBP25 million, due to
the ongoing extended credit facilities from one of our major suppliers, which is
set to continue, at least until the end of 2010. At the end of the period, CSF
was circa GBP37 million ( GBP65 million at 30 June 2009).
In the UK, excluding the effect of the disposal, we saw revenue growth of 6%,
with a 6% growth in product sales and a 7% growth in services. Services growth
has accelerated in the second quarter, after a modest 3% growth in Q1, as we
indicated in our interim management statement on 14 May 2010. This increase in
growth rate is due to the start up of new contracts previously announced. We
expect this improved growth rate to continue through the second half of the year
and our prospect pipeline for 2011 is promising. The UK product sales growth
experienced in the first quarter has been more subdued in Q2, but we are pleased
with performance to date.
After a particularly challenging first two months of 2010, our German business
has seen a period of stability and has achieved overall revenue growth of 5% in
the first half of 2010, but a small revenue decline of 2%, excluding
acquisitions. Performance in Q2 was broadly in line with the performance in Q2
2009, but profitability for the six months as a whole, will be behind the same
period last year. However, the encouraging improvements we saw as we went
through the period, gives us more confidence for the second six months of the
year.
Computacenter France has seen an overall growth rate of 9% with 10% growth in
product sales and 5% in services sales. Profitability will be broadly in line
with the same period a year ago, which is ahead of our expectation at the
beginning of the year. Therefore, we are looking forward to an improved
performance from Computacenter France, in the year as a whole.
We are pleased with the progress the Group has made, albeit slightly held back
by the first two months results in Germany. While we are fully aware that
market conditions remain highly competitive and the economic outlook is far from
certain, the first six months of 2010 has led us to believe that this will be
another year of progress for Computacenter and we remain on track to achieve our
expectations for the year end outcome.
Computacenter will report Interim results on 27 August 2010.
Enquiries:
Computacenter plc
Mike Norris, Chief Executive - 01707 631601
Tony Conophy, Finance Director - 01707 631515
Tessa Freeman, PR Manager - 01707 631514
Tulchan Communications - 020 7353 4200
Andrew Grant
Lucy Legh
[HUG#1431182]
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Source: Computacenter PLC via Thomson Reuters ONE
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