Computacenter's UK arm enjoys stellar Q2

Industry bellwether sees UK services and product sales rise 18 and eight per cent in second quarter respectively

Computacenter has enjoyed a bumper Q2 in its native UK and has stuck by its decision to invest heavily in its services business.

According to a trading update this morning, the reseller and service giant's group revenue rose by four per cent in its fiscal first-half year to 30 June, or eight per cent allowing for currency tailwinds.

UK growth for the first six months of 2012 stood at five per cent, with services rising 14 per cent and product by one per cent.

However, isolating just the Q2 numbers, Computacenter said UK services leapt by 18 per cent and product sales by eight per cent. Product margins were lower, though, as it sold fewer high-end servers and more low-margin PCs than the previous year.

Computacenter recently admitted that it had won more services business than it could handle. The extra investment required to support this growth would cost it £7m more than anticipated in 2012, it announced last month, causing its share price to fall sharply.

But the firm is sticking by its guns, arguing that its decision to hire another 700 services heads would pay dividends in the long term.

"...the board believes that this incremental cost... will help secure Computacenter's long-term growth potential and enhance the quality of earnings," it said.

Revenue drawn from Germany - which is now Computacenter's largest country - rose seven per cent in constant currency, with services jumping 16 per cent and product by four per cent.

French revenue rose by nine per cent in constant currency, with services growing 17 per cent and product by eight per cent. This includes the contribution of recent acquisition Top Info.