Computacenter PLC
19 January 2006
For immediate release 19 January 2006
Computacenter plc
Termination of offer discussions
and
Update on trading
Computacenter plc announced, on 18 November 2005, that it had entered into
preliminary discussions relating to a possible offer for the Company from a
group led by Sir Peter Ogden and including Computacenter's executive management.
The Company announces today that these discussions have not progressed to an
offer and have now terminated.
Computacenter is today providing an update on trading for the year ended 31
December 2005. Group profit before tax for 2005 is expected to be in the range
of £32-34 million, materially ahead of market expectations, due to unusually
strong demand from customers at the year-end. Cash generation was adversely
impacted by the higher than expected sales in December which increased the level
of working capital required at the year-end.
In the UK, trading in the third quarter of the year was slow, but improved in
the fourth quarter and was particularly strong in the latter part of December.
As in 2004, the substantial increase in product revenue in the final days of the
year is primarily related to sales of enterprise-type products and software as
opposed to personal computers. UK service revenues were broadly the same as last
year, with a modest increase in Managed Services revenues, offset by a reduction
in Professional Services revenues.
In Germany, trading in both the third and fourth quarters was encouraging.
In France, performance in the second half improved substantially over the first
half, as anticipated, such that full year revenues were broadly flat on 2004,
despite being 14% down at the interims. As in the UK, trading in the latter part
of December was very strong, in particular with Government institutions.
Computacenter will announce its preliminary results for the year ending 31
December 2005 on Tuesday, 14 March 2006.
Enquiries:
Computacenter plc
Mike Norris, Chief Executive 01707 631601
Tony Conophy, Finance Director 01707 631515
HSBC Bank plc
Rupert Faure Walker (financial adviser) 020 7992 2101
Nick Donald (corporate broker) 020 7992 2151
Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200
Andrew Grant
Julie Foster
HSBC Bank plc, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial
Services Authority, is acting for Computacenter plc and no one else in relation
to maters described in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone
other than Computacenter plc for providing the protections afforded to customers
of HSBC Bank plc or for providing advice on matters described in this
announcement.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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