Computacenter to hire 700 staff to cope with growth

Corporate reseller warns euro crisis could put £3m dent in 2012 profits

Computacenter is facing the pleasant problem of having won more services business than it can handle, and is hiring 700 people and making further investments in its systems to cope.

The UK's largest corporate reseller announced in a trading update this morning that the extra investments required to support its growth will cost it £7m more than anticipated in 2012.

Computacenter's services business in the first half of 2012 is running 15 per cent ahead of last year, "clearly an acceleration" compared with the 11 per cent growth rate reported in its first quarter. The firm said it saw no indication that this growth will cool.

However, the spate of new business wins will come at a cost, prompting Computacenter to make a "material investment" through its profit and loss.

The take-on costs include the recruitment of more than 700 new services personnel and the transfer of many staff from customers and their historical suppliers, Computacenter said, as well as the cost of training them and rising sales commissions. Investment in back-office and customer-facing systems has also been substantial.

Mike Norris (pictured), chief executive of Computacenter, said: "While we highlighted the necessity for investment in our statement of 18 April 2012, both the size and scope of the opportunities we have won have increased significantly, requiring us to invest further."

Meanwhile, Computacenter's "supply chain" business – basically product – should grow by high single digits for its first half. The UK investment banking segment remains challenging, it said.

And the London-listed firm had one more surprise for investors as it revealed that the depreciation of the euro against sterling could put a £3m dent in its 2012 profits, based on the current exchange rate.