Computacenter MBO falls flat
Discussions over management buy out come to sudden end
Computacenter (CC) has announced today that discussions surrounding a proposed management buy out (MBO) have not led to an offer and have now been terminated.
On 18 November, CC had entered into preliminary discussions relating to a possible offer for the company from a group led by Sir Peter Ogden and including CC's executive management. The company announced today that these discussions have not progressed to an offer and have now terminated.
The announcement coincided with CC's trading update for the year ended 31 December 2005. Group profit before tax for 2005 is expected to be in the range of £32-34m, materially ahead of market expectations, due to "unusually strong demand from customers at the year-end", according to the firm.
In the UK, CC said 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.
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.
CC will announce its preliminary results for the year ending 31 December 2005 on 14 March.