Computacenter re-enters FTSE 250

Norris: Because of our managed services growth staff numbers will go up this year

Computacenter has bounced back into the FTSE 250 as a result of its recent bull run on the stock market.

The corporate reseller’s share price has rallied by about 40 per cent in 2009 and these gains were reflected in FTSE’s quarterly shake-up.

Computacenter was one of 15 firms promoted from the FTSE SmallCap to the FTSE 250 Index this week, according to Reuters.

Chief executive Mike Norris told CRN the promotion could boost its share price further as now the firm will be included in FTSE 250 trackers.

“The stock has performed very well since the beginning of the year. It is 40 per cent up while the market is down by 20 per cent,” he said.

The majority of Computacenter’s share price gains came in mid January following an upbeat trading statement for full-year 2008.

The VAR this week unveiled its preliminary results for that period. Group revenues improved 7.6 per cent to £2.56bn, while pre-tax profits fell six per cent to £39.5m.

Norris confirmed that Computacenter has recently made cuts to its business around SME resell and hardware distribution. Although he said the firm would continue to cut sales and administrative posts, he stressed Computacenter’s 10,000-strong headcount is likely to rise in 2009 as the firm takes on more engineers.

“Because of our managed services growth, staff numbers will go up this year,” he said.