Trading Statement

Computacenter PLC 10 January 2007 Computacenter plc Pre-Close Trading Update Computacenter is today providing an update on trading for the year ended 31 December 2006. Group profit before tax for 2006 is expected to be in line with consensus market expectations of £38.2 million before taking account of the exceptional charges in France detailed below. Cash generation has been positive in the fourth quarter and the year end net cash, excluding customer-based finance leases, will be circa £25 million, before the funding of the Digica Group acquisition announced on 4 January 2007. Profitability in the UK improved steadily as the year progressed, even after taking account of a £2 million adverse swing in relation to charges arising from share-based payments. The main improvement in profitability came from better product margins. Revenues from product sales were marginally reduced, reflecting in part Computacenter's efforts to move away from low margin volume sales in trade distribution. Services revenues grew modestly, with a strong performance in Professional Services being offset by a small decline in contractual services. In Germany, the new datacentre shared services contracts signed in the first half of 2006 have had a significant adverse impact on profitability, particularly in the third quarter. These contracts performed better in the fourth quarter, although they are not yet profitable. Elsewhere very good trading has been evident in the fourth quarter, particularly in product sales. The sales pattern appears to have been partly helped by customers buying ahead of the VAT change at the end of the year, although it is too early to tell how much of the improvement has resulted from this. French performance improved in the second half of the year reflecting normal seasonality patterns; however, there was also some underlying improvement. To further reduce French losses in 2007, actions to decrease the cost base have continued, resulting in an exceptional charge of slightly in excess of £2 million in 2006. In addition, an exceptional non-cash impairment charge of £2.5 million to write down the value of tangible fixed assets in France has also been taken. Computacenter will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2006 on Tuesday, 13 March 2007. 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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