Computacenter PLC
09 January 2008
Computacenter plc
Pre-Close Trading Update
Computacenter is today holding an Investor and Analyst conference call to
provide an update on trading for the year ended 31 December 2007.
Group profit before tax for 2007 is expected to be marginally ahead of consensus
market expectations of £41.2 million. Net borrowings at the end of the period
prior to customer specific finances are expected to be circa £30 million. This
is after the effect of £35 million spent on acquisitions and £12 million on the
repurchase of our shares during the period. Arrangements are being put in place
to enable the share buy back programme to continue during the closed period.
In the UK, prior to the effect of acquisitions, the second half performance
improved compared to last year and to the first half of 2007. Product sales grew
for the first time in a number of years despite continued decline in the price
of technology. This was aided by strong gains in market share in the datacentre
arena, winning some new major contracts particularly towards the end of the year
and the effects of some customers moving away from the direct model. In the
second half of 2007 we had a number of new contractual services wins and
extensions, which enabled us to fully recover from previously reported lost
contracts. We enter 2008 with a stronger contract base than we started 2007.
Digica, which was acquired at the beginning of 2007, performed in line with
management's expectations in the second half of the year.
As expected, Computacenter Germany continued to perform well with profits
reaching a new high in 2007. Overall, revenue remained strong in both products
and services and we saw a modest improvement in the services margins towards the
backend of the year. Fourth quarter revenue was not as strong as the comparable
period last year, which was an exceptional performance driven by the VAT rate
changes in Germany.
Computacenter France performed ahead of expectations for the year, recording a
small profit in the second half of 2007 although it recorded a small loss for
the year as a whole. Due to competitive pressure we have seen a reduction in
revenue in France particularly from large product deals in the fourth quarter.
However, much progress has been made in stabilising our French business in 2007
with reductions in the cost base, improvements in margin and increases in
services revenue.
Computacenter will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31
December 2007 on Tuesday, 11 March 2008.
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
Stephen Malthouse
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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