Interim Results

Computacenter PLC 13 September 2005 Interim Results Announcement Computacenter plc, the European IT infrastructure services provider, today announces interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2005. Financial Highlights*: • Group revenues £1.15 billion (2004: £1.23 billion) • Profit before tax £8.2 million (2004: £30.1 million) • Earnings per share 1.2p (2004: 10.7p) • Interim dividend of 2.5p per share (2004: 2.3p) • Strong balance sheet with net cash increasing by £41.6 million to £87.3 million *All figures restated to IFRS Ron Sandler, Chairman of Computacenter plc, commented: 'The first half of 2005 has been a challenging time for Computacenter. The decline in performance is largely attributable to a steep fall in product margins in the UK business. On a more positive note, our UK Managed Services continued to make progress. We believe that for the foreseeable future our UK product business will continue to face the challenges of intense price competition, vendors seeking to sell direct to large accounts and substantially lowered vendor rebates. In anticipation of these developments, we embarked last year upon a major strategic reassessment and, in the first half of 2005, we completed a fundamental reorganisation of our UK business to create a platform for implementing our new strategy. These initiatives represent a significant programme of activity. Following the satisfactory resolution of the dispute with GE, the Board is now able to consider how best to utilise the Group's cash resources for the benefit of shareholders. Trading has been subdued in July and August, particularly in the UK. Nevertheless, we anticipate a stronger profit performance in the second half and the outlook for the full year remains in line with market expectations. Looking further ahead, the Board is confident that the Group's profits can be improved in the future.' For further information, please contact: Computacenter plc. Mike Norris, Chief Executive 01707 631 601 Tessa Freeman, Investor Relations 01707 631 514 www.computacenter.com Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200 Tim Lynch www.tulchangroup.com Chairman's Statement The first half of 2005 has been a challenging time for Computacenter. Group revenues declined to £1.15 billion (2004: £1.23 billion) and profit before tax fell 72.7% to £8.2 million (2004: £30.1 million). The balance sheet remained strong, with net cash increasing by £41.6 million during the period to £87.3 million. Despite the disappointing earnings, the Board has approved an interim dividend of 2.5p per share (2004: 2.3p) to be paid on 21 October 2005 to shareholders on the register as at 23 September 2005. This is consistent with our policy of seeking to keep the interim dividend at a level equal to one-third of the preceding year's total dividend, and reflects the cash resources of the business. The decline in performance is largely attributable to a steep fall in product margins in the UK business. This has been due to the combination of lacklustre market demand and intense price competition, which adversely impacted our product revenues and the level of vendor rebates. On a more positive note, our UK Managed Services business continued to make progress, with revenue growth of 1.3% in the period and a number of significant new contracts secured. We do not consider the deterioration in the competitive environment for our UK product business to be temporary. We believe that for the foreseeable future we will continue to face the challenges of intense price competition, vendors seeking to sell direct to large accounts and substantially lowered vendor rebates. In anticipation of these developments, we embarked last year upon a major strategic reassessment. In the first half of 2005, we completed a fundamental reorganisation of our UK business to create a platform for implementing our new strategy, the principal elements of which include: • Re-engineering our product business to deliver lower cost account management and sales; • Building a sizeable presence in the medium-sized business segment; • Creating a specialist software business unit to increase our share of this market; • Broadening the depth and range of our technical services activities; • Capturing greater value from the superior scale of our engineering and maintenance activities, by sharing more resource across our customer base; • Seeking to accelerate the growth of our Managed Services business. Taken together, these initiatives represent a significant programme of activity. The performance of our European businesses in the first half of 2005 was also disappointing. Computacenter Germany recorded an operating loss of £1.5 million (2004: profit of £2.5 million) on a 3.8% fall in revenues. The German economy remained weak, leading to pressure on both product and service margins. Our efforts to reduce the cost base of the German business to combat the lower margins are continuing. With market conditions in France remaining equally challenging, the revenues of our French business declined 14.2% and the operating loss widened to £7.9 million (2004: £2.0 million). Under-utilisation of our services staff and a reduction in product revenues were the main cause of this deterioration. A new management team in Computacenter France has been installed and further efforts to rectify the poor profitability are underway, principally directed towards significant cost reduction. I am pleased to say that, shortly after the period end, the tax assets claim raised by GE, relating to our acquisition of GE CompuNet in Germany and GECITS Austria in 2003 (noted as a contingent liability in the Group's 2004 accounts), was satisfactorily resolved. Following the purchase of GE's share of the tax assets, Computacenter has now received €40 million. With the resolution of this dispute the Board is now able to consider how best to utilise the Group's cash resources for the benefit of shareholders. Trading has been subdued in July and August, particularly in the UK. Nevertheless, we anticipate a stronger profit performance in the second half and the outlook for the full year remains in line with market expectations. Looking further ahead, the Board is confident that the Group's profits can be improved in the future. There is no escape from the fact that trading in 2005 has been difficult and Computacenter's performance has been extremely disappointing. Nonetheless, Computacenter's staff have continued to deliver outstanding customer service in difficult trading circumstances, and I am pleased to record my appreciation for their considerable dedication and hard work. Review of Operations UK During the first half, difficult trading conditions for our Technology Sourcing activities adversely affected profitability. Declining product revenues, driven by continuing intense price competition, had a particular impact, together with the previously announced deterioration in our trading terms and conditions with HP, our major vendor partner. Substantially lower product sales resulted in Computacenter failing to achieve many of our revenue-related vendor targets. These factors were mainly responsible for a decline in H1 2005 UK operating profit of 49.1%, from £29.3 million to £14.9 million. Overall the contribution from our product sales fell by £18.2 million, of which £14.6 million is attributable to lower vendor rebates. This performance underlines the need for the fundamental re-engineering of our Technology Sourcing business model that is now underway. Some attractive new Managed Services contract wins and high levels of Professional Services resource utilisation helped mitigate the impact of the decline in Technology Sourcing activity. Significant new Managed Services business included the award of five-year contracts by British American Tobacco (BAT) and the UK Highways Agency. Under the former agreement, Computacenter will provide a range of services to help manage BAT's 3,500-plus desktop/laptop estate and file and print servers. Under the terms of the Highways Agency contract, which is worth more than £8 million, Computacenter will deliver a range of services in partnership with information and communications technology specialist Vivista to support the Agency's new Regional Control Centres. We also secured a number of important contract renewals, including a two-year extension of our Managed Services contract with Tradeteam. Under the terms of our DCSA Catalogue contract we were awarded additional Technology Sourcing business with a number of Ministry of Defence agencies, including the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Defence Procurement Agency. Following the results of a comprehensive strategy review initiated last year, a major change programme is underway in Computacenter's UK business. This aims to achieve top line growth, reduce further the cost base, and re-organise the business to achieve improved operational performance in the present difficult competitive environment. To help drive services growth and ensure tighter management of our Technology Sourcing activities in the face of continuing price competition, we have created a greater organisational separation between the product and service areas of our business. Consequently we will, for the first time, be in a position to report separate financial results for these businesses at the end of 2006. To increase market penetration and sharpen our customer offerings, we have created a number of focused business units, within both our product and services activities. These were formally established on July 1 and are responsible for defining and delivering suites of related propositions to the market. Specialist sales teams, together with all personnel required to deliver those offerings, have been allocated to these business units, with the business unit managers having full profit and loss responsibility. Freed from the operational management of large, often complex service implementations, our sales organisation will concentrate on identifying and realising incremental sales opportunities and on customer relationship management. A slimmed-down sales force will operate across multiple customer segments and a new more accountable commission-led pay plan has been introduced to encourage greater sales entrepreneurship. We have also established a specific business unit with its own tele-sales capability to address the medium-size business sector. We continue to believe that this sector offers considerable opportunity for Computacenter in the UK, using the leverage provided by our existing logistics and back office infrastructure. Through these and related initiatives we are confident we can grow the UK business, as well as improve our competitiveness whilst reducing our cost base. RDC, our re-cycling and re-marketing arm, and CCD, our trade distribution division, also had challenging half-years. The slowdown in hardware sales and related recycling of old equipment reduced RDC volumes by 25%. CCD saw a significant decline in profitability due to margin challenges in a fairly stagnant market and changes to vendor terms. Germany Our German business recorded an operating loss of £1.5 million (2004: profit of £2.5 million) on revenues that were 3.8% lower than in H1 2004. This disappointing result reflects the continuing weak economic climate, with German organisations still focusing heavily on cost reduction and delaying capital investment. We saw an increased number of 'Wintel' implementations, although expenditures in the more profitable areas of datacentre and networking technologies were particularly subdued, adversely affecting the product mix and resulting in a 0.7% product margin decline. Services fared rather better, and although margins declined slightly, overall services revenues were up 6.5% on H1 2004, with good levels of resource utilisation, particularly for customer engineering projects. We also saw strong Professional Services growth, fuelled by customer interest in IT security, combined voice/data telephony and mobile technology solutions. Intense price pressure affected services margins, however, which declined by 3.9%. The tendency for many German organisations to frequently re-tender contracts to lower their costs was an important factor in this reduction. A difficult start-up of one new contract in particular impacted service margins; however we expect this situation to improve in the second half of this year. Although we are making good progress with our programme to encourage customers to transfer to longer-term managed service contracts, with built-in cost and service improvements, the conversion to this type of contract is inevitably taking some time. Since December there has been a further 5.7% growth in our Managed Services contract base. Important wins included the award of a contract by Sparkasse Hannover under the framework of our partnership with FinanzIT, a major IT supplier to the German Savings Banks Organisation. The Sparkasse Hannover contract covers end-to-end management for 3,500 IT workstations as well as servers, infrastructure and telecommunications systems. We were also awarded a seven-year contract, partnering Helpbycom, for the management of the German Federal Labour Office's IT user helpdesk, which serves 120,000 users. At the start of 2005, we changed the organisational structure of Computacenter Germany, although the full benefits of this are yet to be realised. The re-organisation has four main objectives. It will improve our focus on the medium-sized business market, where we believe there are significant opportunities for growth; it will improve our ability to sell a broader range of products and services into existing customers; it will sharpen our focus on the growth industry sectors of Government and Financial Services; and finally, it will improve and leverage relationships with our key vendor partners. In addition to these initiatives, which aim at generating revenue growth, we are determined to lower the cost base of the business. To that end, a programme is already underway to further reduce indirect expenses. Although we anticipate a stronger H2, partly due to the effect of Government year-end purchasing, the full impact of our improvement plan is unlikely to be evident until 2006. France Our French business traded poorly, with revenues declining 14.2% to £126.2 million (2004: £147.1 million) and operating losses increasing to £7.9 million (2004: £2.0 million). The adverse effects of falling hardware prices in the Technology Sourcing business were exacerbated by low services resource utilisation and a cost base that is still too high. In addition, our largest French account, Le Ministere de la Defense, suspended expenditure for a period whilst the contract renewal was put out to competitive tender, which had a material impact on our overall H1 revenues. The contract was subsequently renewed with Computacenter for a further four years. Significant new business included a €7 million Infrastructure Integration project for Agence Centrale des Organismes de Securite Sociale, and Technology Sourcing contracts for France Telecom and Union des Groupements d'Achats Publics, worth €6 million and €5 million respectively. However the performance of Computacenter France continues to be unsatisfactory and the appointment of Chris Webb, formerly responsible for UK sales and services delivery, as Managing Director of Computacenter France has added impetus to the major transformation project that is underway. A substantial cost savings programme has been implemented, focusing on Professional Services, which has a high headcount and a weak revenue and utilisation pipeline. As a result 56 Professional Services staff entered the formal redundancy process in H1 2005. It is anticipated that this, together with other measures, will yield significant savings in 2006. To encourage revenue growth, a restructuring of the sales organisation, with the objective of ensuring greater responsiveness and accountability, was undertaken during the period. A new pay plan has been introduced, to provide more effective incentives, and we have invested in the recruitment of new business specialists to help identify and close new opportunities. In addition, the re-engineering of our maintenance operation, which began in 2004, has started to give us a strong and growing pipeline of new maintenance contracts for H2. Customer satisfaction is also improving, as evidenced by a 15% improvement in performance against Service Level Agreements since January 2005. Though the full benefits will take some time to be realised we believe the initiatives now underway provide a sound foundation for Computacenter's eventual return to profit in France. Our aim is to reduce loss in 2006 and break even in 2007. Belgium and Luxembourg Our small 'BeLux' operation also suffered from a slowdown in capital spending, with operating profits declining to a loss of £105,000 (2004: £68,000 profit) on revenues that were 14.5% lower than in H1 2004. Product revenues improved somewhat in the second quarter, based on a new international procurement contract with Recticel and a technology refresh project for Astron. The services business grew profitably on the back of existing Managed Services contracts and new migration projects for companies such as Banksys and Nomura. Consolidated income statement For the six months ended 30 June 2005 Unaudited six Restated Restated year months ended 30 unaudited six ended 31 Dec June 2005 months ended 30 2004 June 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 Continuing operations Revenue 1,151,553 1,228,941 2,410,590 Cost of sales (1,009,276) (1,060,821) (2,080,392) ---------- ---------- ---------- Gross profit 142,277 168,120 330,198 Distribution costs (10,290) (9,868) (20,626) Administrative expenses (126,565) (128,393) (243,394) ---------- ---------- ---------- Operating profit from continuing operations 5,422 29,859 66,178 Finance costs (1,275) (1,722) (3,537) Finance income 3,956 1,995 5,247 Share of loss of joint venture - (205) (226) Share of profit of associate 118 135 266 ---------- ---------- ---------- Profit before tax 8,221 30,062 67,928 Income tax expense (6,078) (9,801) (19,639) ---------- ---------- ---------- Profit for the year from continuing operations 2,143 20,261 48,289 Discontinued operation Loss for the period from discontinued operation - (304) (3,923) ---------- ---------- ---------- Profit for the period 2,143 19,957 44,366 ========== ========== ========== Attributable to: Equity holders of the parent 2,184 19,987 44,435 Minority interests (41) (30) (69) ---------- ---------- ---------- 2,143 19,957 44,366 ========== ========== ========== Earnings per share - basic for profit for the year 1.2p 10.7p 23.8p - diluted for profit for the year 1.2p 10.5p 23.5p Consolidated balance sheet At 30 June 2005 Restated Unaudited unaudited Restated six months six months year ended ended ended 30 June 2005 30 June 2004 31 Dec 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 Assets Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 86,243 92,455 89,914 Intangible assets 9,576 6,864 7,923 Investment in a joint venture accounted for using the equity method - 20 - Investment in an associate accounted for using the equity method 173 649 373 Listed investment - 3,047 - Deferred income tax asset 1,548 3,107 1,486 -------- -------- -------- 97,540 106,142 99,696 -------- -------- -------- Current assets Inventories 88,205 119,910 118,914 Trade and other receivables: gross 388,269 416,604 438,452 Less: non returnable proceeds - (55,643) (39,043) -------- -------- -------- Trade and other receivables 388,269 360,961 399,409 Prepayments 59,751 60,048 55,135 Cash and short-term deposits 144,832 99,327 138,218 -------- -------- -------- 681,057 640,246 711,676 Non-current assets classified as held for sale - 9,184 9,208 -------- -------- -------- Total assets 778,597 755,572 820,580 ======== ======== ======== Equity and liabilities Equity attributable to equity holders of the parent Issued capital 9,504 9,447 9,489 Share premium 74,628 71,778 73,920 Capital redemption reserve 100 100 100 Investment in own shares (2,503) (2,503) (2,503) Other reserves (2,517) (1,860) (904) Retained earnings 236,818 224,672 245,113 Amounts recognised directly in equity relating to non-current assets held for sale - (85) (7) -------- -------- -------- 316,030 301,549 325,208 Minority interest 5 83 46 -------- -------- -------- Total equity 316,035 301,632 325,254 -------- -------- -------- Non-current liabilities Interest-bearing loans and borrowings 664 326 429 Provisions 14,722 14,628 15,233 Other non-current liabilities 2,716 3,221 2,691 Deferred income tax liabilities 1,455 1,667 1,455 -------- -------- -------- 19,557 19,842 19,808 -------- -------- -------- Current liabilities Trade and other payables 299,577 298,188 306,964 Deferred income 78,505 79,834 89,083 Interest-bearing loans and borrowings 57,867 38,279 58,706 Forward currency contracts 351 - - Income tax payable 5,005 8,788 11,519 Provisions 1,700 1,667 2,358 -------- -------- -------- 443,005 426,756 468,630 Liabilities directly associated with non-current assets classified as held for sale - 7,342 6,888 -------- -------- -------- Total liabilities 462,562 453,940 495,326 -------- -------- -------- Total equity and liabilities 778,597 755,572 820,580 ======== ======== ======== Approved by the Board on 12 September 2005 MJ Norris, Chief Executive FA Conophy, Finance Director Consolidated statement of changes in equity Attributable to equity holders of the parent ------------------------ Issued Share Capital Investment Other Retained Total Minority Total capital premium redemption in own reserves earnings interest equity reserve shares £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 At 1 January 2004 9,441 71,486 100 (2,503) - 213,423 291,947 113 292,060 Currency translation differences - - - - (1,860) - (1,860) - (1,860) Amounts relating to non-current assets held for sale - - - - (85) - (85) - (85) Cost of share based payments - - - - - 498 498 - 498 ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ Net income/(expenses) recognised directly in equity - - - - (1,945) 498 (1,447) - (1,447) Profit for the period - - - - - 19,987 19,987 (30) 19,957 Exercise of options 6 292 - - - - 298 - 298 Equity dividends - - - - - (9,236) (9,236) - (9,236) ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ At 30 June 2004 9,447 71,778 100 (2,503) (1,945) 224,672 301,549 83 301,632 Currency translation differences - - - - 956 - 956 - 956 Amounts relating to non-current assets held for sale - - - - 78 - 78 - 78 Cost of share based payments - - - - - 309 309 - 309 ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ Net income/(expenses) recognised directly in equity - - - - 1,034 309 1,343 - 1,343 Profit for the period - - - - - 24,448 24,448 (37) 24,411 Exercise of options 42 2,142 - - - - 2,184 - 2,184 Equity dividends - - - - - (4,316) (4,316) - (4,316) ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ At 31 December 2004 9,489 73,920 100 (2,503) (911) 245,113 325,208 46 325,254 Adoption of IAS 32 & IAS 39 - - - - - (148) (148) - (148) ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ At 1 January 2005 9,489 73,920 100 (2,503) (911) 244,965 325,060 46 325,106 Currency translation differences - - - - (1,606) - (1,606) - (1,606) ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ Net income/(expenses) recognised directly in equity - - - - (1,606) - (1,606) - (1,606) Profit for the period - - - - - 2,184 2,184 (41) 2,143 Exercise of options 15 708 - - - - 723 - 723 Cost of share based payments - - - - - (596) (596) - (596) Equity dividends - - - - - (9,735) (9,735) - (9,735) ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ At 30 June 2005 9,504 74,628 100 (2,503) (2,517) 236,818 316,030 5 316,035 -------------- ----- ------ ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ Consolidated cash flow statement For the six months ended 30 June 2005 Restated Unaudited unaudited six months six months Restated year ended ended ended 30 June 2005 30 June 2004 31 Dec 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 Cash flows from operating activities Operating profit from continuing operations 5,422 29,859 66,178 Operating loss of discontinued operation - (282) (1,547) Depreciation 8,032 8,818 17,017 Amortisation 885 670 1,365 Share based payment (637) 498 898 Loss/profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment (155) 502 756 Loss on disposal of intangibles - 2 48 Profit on disposal of investment - - (1,603) Dividend received from associate 303 - 509 Decrease/(increase) in trade and other receivables 29,832 4,313 (23,156) Decrease in inventories 27,770 10,173 14,278 Decrease in trade and other payables (5,423) (23,346) (14,604) Currency and other adjustments 609 322 181 Borrowing costs (1,071) (1,945) (3,439) Interest received 4,721 1,517 4,359 Income tax paid (12,591) (6,365) (12,296) -------- -------- -------- Net cash flows from operating activities 57,697 24,736 48,944 -------- -------- -------- Cash flows from investing activities Proceeds from sale of subsidiary net of cash disposed of (252) - - Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment 89 1,250 1,756 Purchases of property, plant and equipment (5,284) (5,649) (11,615) Proceeds from sale of intangibles - - 211 Purchases of intangible assets (1,403) (723) (2,593) Dividend received - - 23 Proceeds from sale of listed investment - - 4,650 -------- -------- -------- Net cash flows used in investing activities (6,850) (5,122) (7,568) -------- -------- -------- Cash flows from financing activities Proceeds from issue of shares 722 298 2,482 Repayment of finance leases (250) - (39) Dividends paid to equity holders of the parent (9,735) (9,305) (13,587) -------- -------- -------- Net cash flows used in financing activities (9,263) (9,007) (11,144) -------- -------- -------- Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 41,584 10,607 30,232 Net foreign exchange difference 4,235 1,896 (149) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 80,545 50,462 50,462 Adoption of IAS 32 & IAS 39 (39,043) - - -------- -------- -------- Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 87,321 62,965 80,545 ======== ======== ======== Notes to the accounts 1 Accounting policies Basis of preparation Computacenter plc is required to report its consolidated financial statements under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as adopted by the European Union, for all accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005. Previously the Group has applied UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (UK GAAP). The results for the six months ended 30 June 2005 represent the first interim financial statements that the Group has prepared in accordance with its accounting policies under IFRS. The first annual report under IFRS will be for the year ended 31 December 2005. A description of how the Group's reported performance and financial position are affected by this change, including reconciliations from UK GAAP to IFRS for prior years and the revised summary of significant accounting policies under IFRS, is available on the Investors Section of the corporate website at www.computacenter.com. The unaudited interim financial information has been prepared, for the first time, in accordance with IFRS and is covered by IFRS 1 'First-time adoption of IFRS'. The information has been prepared in accordance with those IFRS' issued and effective as at the time of preparation, and has been applied retrospectively except where certain exceptions apply. As listed companies are adopting IFRS for the first time, there is limited established practice upon which to draw in matters of interpretation and application. Furthermore, it is possible that new standards, revisions to existing standards and new interpretations may be issued which affect the Group. Consequently it is possible that the comparative information in the 2005 annual report may differ from that presented in this document. Change in accounting policy From 1 January 2005 the Group has adopted the financial instruments standards IAS 32 and IAS 39. The only material changes on adoption of these standards has been on accounting for foreign currency forward contracts and non-recourse debt financing. Foreign currency forward contracts The fair values of both the hedging instruments and the hedged item are recognised at each reporting date. Non-recourse debt financing Under UK GAAP, the Group adopted a linked presentation for its non-recourse debt financing. This presentation method is not permissible under IFRS and accordingly the non-recourse financing element has been reclassified as borrowings for 2005. As permitted under IFRS1, first time adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, the Group has elected not to restate comparative information for the financial instruments standards IAS 32 and IAS 39. A restatement of the opening balance sheet at 1 January 2005 to present the Group's opening position under IAS 32 and 39 is included in these interim financial statements as Appendix A. 2 Segment information The Group's primary reporting format is geographical segments and its secondary format is business segments. The Group's geographical segments are determined by the location of the Group's assets and operations. The Group's business in each geography is managed separately and held in separate statutory entities. Segmental performance for the period to 30 June 2005 was as follows: Segmental analysis Unaudited six Restated Restated year months ended 30 unaudited six ended 31 Dec June 2005 months ended 30 2004 June 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 Revenue by geographic market Continuing operations: UK 715,517 758,425 1,433,685 Germany 299,983 311,937 655,501 France 126,206 147,065 300,380 Belgium & Luxembourg 9,847 11,514 21,024 ---------- ---------- ---------- Continuing operations 1,151,553 1,228,941 2,410,590 Discontinued operation - 25,977 45,162 ---------- ---------- ---------- Total 1,151,553 1,254,918 2,455,752 ========== ========== ========== Gross profit by geographic market UK 88,130 107,904 205,657 Germany 40,720 42,440 90,479 France 12,383 16,583 31,771 Belgium & Luxembourg 1,044 1,193 2,291 ---------- ---------- ---------- Continuing operations 142,277 168,120 330,198 Discontinued operation - 3,115 5,203 ---------- ---------- ---------- Total 142,277 171,235 335,401 ========== ========== ========== Operating profit/(loss) by geographic market UK 14,904 29,259 63,845 Germany (1,457) 2,537 8,999 France (7,920) (2,005) (6,682) Belgium & Luxembourg (105) 68 16 ---------- ---------- ---------- Continuing operations 5,422 29,859 66,178 Discontinued operation - (282) (3,903) ---------- ---------- ---------- Total 5,422 29,577 62,275 ========== ========== ========== Revenue by business segment Technology sourcing 893,753 998,841 1,931,569 Infrastructure integration 52,820 58,688 115,502 Managed services 204,980 197,389 408,681 ---------- ---------- ---------- Continuing operations 1,151,553 1,254,918 2,455,752 Discontinued operation - (25,977) (45,162) ---------- ---------- ---------- Total revenue from continuing operations 1,151,553 1,228,941 2,410,590 ========== ========== ========== 3 Income tax The charge based on the profit for the period comprises: Unaudited six Restated Restated year months ended 30 unaudited six ended 31 Dec June 2005 months ended 30 2004 June 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 UK Corporation tax - Current 5,793 10,384 21,652 - Prior 196 (868) (3,249) - Deferred tax (37) 346 1,717 Foreign tax 2 - (544) ------- ------- -------- 5,954 9,862 19,576 Share of joint venture's tax 124 (61) 63 ------- ------- -------- 6,078 9,801 19,639 ======= ======= ======== 4 Dividends The proposed final dividend for 2004 of 5.2p per ordinary share was approved at the AGM in April 2005 and was paid on 31 May 2005. An interim dividend in respect of 2005 of 2.5p per ordinary share, amounting to a total dividend of £4,680,000, was declared by the Directors at their meeting on 12 September 2005. This interim report does not reflect this dividend payable. 5 Earnings per share Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the net profit for the period attributable to ordinary equity holders of the parent by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period. Diluted earnings per share is calculated by dividing the net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period adjusted for the effect of dilutive share options. The following reflects the income and share data used in the total operations basic and diluted earnings per share computations: Unaudited six Restated Restated year months ended 30 unaudited six ended 31 Dec June 2005 months ended 30 2004 June 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 Profit attributable to equity holders of the parent 2,184 19,987 44,435 ------- ------- -------- No '000 No '000 No '000 Weighted average number of ordinary shares for basic earnings per share 187,147 186,032 186,441 Effect of dilution: Share options 1,010 3,730 2,538 ------- ------- -------- Adjusted weighted average number of ordinary shares for diluted earnings per share 188,157 189,762 188,979 ======= ======= ======== 6 Investments Disposal of subsidiary On 2 January 2005 the Group disposed of its Austrian subsidiary, Computacenter GmbH (Computacenter Austria), a company that was a separate geographical segment of the Group. As at 30 June and 31 December 2004, Computacenter Austria was classified as an asset held for sale, and was stated at the lower of carrying value and fair value less costs to sell, and income and expenses for the year ended 31 December 2004 were included within the income statement. 7 Cash and cash equivalents Unaudited six Restated Restated year months ended 30 unaudited six ended 31 Dec June 2005 months ended 30 2004 June 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 Cash and cash equivalents as at the end of the period comprise: Cash at bank and in hand 142,832 54,327 98,218 Short term deposits 2,000 45,000 40,000 Bank overdrafts (40,708) (38,068) (58,637) Non-recourse financing (16,803) - - -------- ------- -------- 87,321 61,259 79,581 Cash at bank and in hand attributable to discontinued operation - 1,706 964 -------- ------- -------- 87,321 62,965 80,545 ======== ======= ======== Had IAS 32 and 39 been applied to the 2004 comparatives, cash and cash equivalents would have been reduced for non-recourse financing by £55,643,000 as at June 2004, and £39,043,000 as at December 2004. Further details on the adoption of IAS 32 and 39 are provided within Note 1 and Appendix A. 8 Post balance sheet event Further to the German and Austrian acquisition update contained in note 14 of the 2004 Annual Report and Accounts and the press release dated 19th May 2005 on the outcome of the work of the independent Expert, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Computacenter plc is pleased to announce the resolution of the tax assets claim noted as a contingent liability in the Accounts of Computacenter plc. On the 15th October 2003 the vendors claimed that the Group had breached a provision of the German Purchase Agreement concerning an adjustment relating to tax assets, and issued a claim for EUR52,165,292 (£36,892,800) plus interest, for upfront payment of the tax assets as opposed to payment as the assets are utilised. Computacenter is pleased to announce that following a recent arbitration hearing, Computacenter has reached an agreement with the vendors under which the vendors claim has been withdrawn and Computacenter will purchase the tax assets outright. Although the arbitral tribunal did not render a final decision on the merits of the tax claim, it proposed a settlement which did not allocate value to this claim. The Net Asset Value claim of £32,448,000 as noted in the 19th May 2005 press release is included as a receivable in debtors at 31st December 2004, the net result of this agreement is that Computacenter has received EUR40,000,00 . The upfront purchase of the tax assets will result in a deferred tax asset on the Group balance sheet. 9 Publication of non-statutory accounts The financial information contained in the interim statement does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The auditors have issued an unqualified opinion on the Group's statutory financial statements under UK GAAP for the year ended 31 December 2004. Those accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. Appendix A: restatement of balance sheet and equity at 1 January 2005 for the effects of IAS 32 and IAS 39 Under IFRS 1, first time adoption of international financial reporting standards, the Group is not required to present comparative information which complies with IAS 32 and IAS 39. The Group's hedging strategy is unchanged in respect of covering the risk of foreign currency purchases. The accounting differences for which the 2005 opening balance sheet is restated and which will apply to the 2005 accounts are noted below: Balance sheet at 1 January 2005 IFRS pre Hedging of Non-recourse Restated IFRS restatement for forward financing IAS 32 & IAS 39 currency contracts £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Assets Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 89,914 - - 89,914 Intangible assets 7,923 - - 7,923 Investment in an associate accounted for using the equity method 373 - - 373 Deferred income tax asset 1,486 - - 1,486 -------- -------- ------- ------- 99,696 - - 99,696 -------- -------- ------- ------- Current assets Inventories 118,914 - - 118,914 Trade and other receivables: gross 438,452 1,736 - 440,188 Less: non-returnable proceeds (39,043) - 39,043 - -------- -------- ------- ------- 399,409 1,736 39,043 440,188 Prepayments 55,135 - - 55,135 Cash and short-term deposits 138,218 - - 138,218 -------- -------- ------- ------- 711,676 1,736 39,043 752,455 Non-current assets classified as held for sale 9,208 - - 9,208 -------- -------- ------- ------- Total assets 820,580 1,736 39,043 861,359 ======== ======== ======= ======= Equity and liabilities Equity attributable to equity holders of the parent Issued capital 9,489 - - 9,489 Share premium 73,920 - - 73,920 Capital redemption reserve 100 - - 100 Investment in own shares (2,503) - - (2,503) Other reserves (904) - - (904) Amounts recognised directly in equity relating to non-current assets held for sale (7) - - (7) Retained earnings 245,113 (148) - 244,965 -------- -------- ------- ------- 325,208 (148) - 325,060 Minority interest 46 - - 46 -------- -------- ------- ------- Total equity 325,254 (148) - 325,106 -------- -------- ------- ------- Non-current liabilities Interest-beari ng loans and borrowings 429 - - 429 Provisions 15,233 - - 15,233 Other non-current liabilities 2,691 - - 2,691 Deferred income tax liabilities 1,455 (63) - 1,392 -------- -------- ------- ------- 19,808 (63) - 19,745 -------- -------- ------- ------- Current liabilities Trade and other payables 306,964 - - 306,964 Deferred Income 89,083 - - 89,083 Interest-bearing loans and borrowings 58,706 - 39,043 97,749 Forward currency contracts - 1,947 - 1,947 Income tax payable 11,519 - - 11,519 Provisions 2,358 - - 2,358 -------- -------- ------- ------- 468,630 1,947 39,043 509,620 Liabilities directly associated with non-current assets classified as held for sale 6,888 - - 6,888 -------- -------- ------- ------- Total liabilities 495,326 1,884 39,043 536,253 -------- -------- ------- ------- Total equity and liabilities 820,580 1,736 39,043 861,359 ======== ======== ======= ======= The Group has applied hedge accounting under IAS 39 for certain foreign currency exposures. The fair values of both the hedging instruments and the hedge item are recognised in the income statement at each measurement date. Under UK GAAP, the Group adopted a linked presentation for its non-recourse debt financing. This presentation method is not permissible under IFRS and accordingly the finance element has been reclassified as borrowings for 2005. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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