C2000 manages growth in hard times

Computer 2000 has seen strong growth in its networking, storage, peripherals and components divisions as it turned in profit which had more than doubled from the previous year.

In the year ended 30 September 1998, the distributor achieved a 27 per cent increase in sales to #597 million, from last year's figure of #468 million and pre-tax profit of #11 million, compared with #5.6 million last time.

Graeme Watt, managing director of C2000, said: 'These figures have been achieved at a time when market growth has been slowing down and the downward pressure on margins has continued unabated. We are quite clearly bucking market trends in UK distribution.'

The distributor attributed its growth to its continuing investment in its infrastructure and improving efficiency. Headcount rose by only 7.7 per cent over the financial year to reach 518 at the end of the period.

A breakdown of C2000's results showed about 57 per cent of its revenue was derived from areas outside of PCs, peripherals and software.

Watt said: 'We intend to maintain these profitability levels in the face of falling margins by continually adjusting our resources and cost structure accordingly. Revenue growth with this model is the key. Our goals are simple in this respect and should enable us to deliver the required profit levels to our shareholders.'

The acquisition of components distributor Eurodis OnBoard in February is already making a healthy contribution to C2000's PC components division and to the distributor's sales overall.

Watt added C2000 would be concentrating its efforts on developing its e-commerce business to ensure it maintains its position as the UK's number one distributor.