UK shines for Computacenter in first half of 2014

Operating profit up by almost a quarter on last year, but French and German units suffer

The UK was the golden child for Computacenter in the first half of this year, outperforming its French and German counterparts.

For the six months to 30 June, adjusted profit before tax across the group was up 6.8 per cent annually to £28m on sales which crept up 2.2 per cent to £1.46bn over the same period.

The lion's share of its sales came from its product-focused Supply Chain business, where sales rose 1.7 per cent on last year to £969.8m. Over the same period, services revenue grew 3.3 per cent to £488.5m.

The UK business was pinpointed as a star performer by chairman Greg Lock, who said its services arm did especially well.

"Our UK managed services revenues have grown significantly, and we have won new contracts which bode well for continued growth," he said. "We believe that we continue to increase our market share in services as we pursue our strategic objectives. We are pleased with our product revenue growth in the UK where conditions for business have continued to improve."

In the UK, adjusted operating profit was up 24.4 per cent year on year to £24.9m on revenue which jumped 14.1 per cent to £675.4m

In Germany, adjusted operating profit slumped 16.3 per cent annually to €9.5m, on sales which fell 9.6 per cent to €640.8m over the same period. Its French business saw its operating loss widen to €6.9m compared with €5.4m last year, but sales managed to rise 15.1 per cent to €281m.

Lock added that he was keeping a close eye on Computacenter's mainland European businesses.

"In Germany, having stabilised our performance in 2013 following our contract challenges in 2011, we expect continuous improvement in margin and services wins over the coming years," he said. "We do not expect a dramatic improvement in 2014, but we have put in place all elements of our group operating model and are confident in our prospects for 2015 and beyond.

"France is a different matter for us. We have announced a ‘social plan' which will reduce our cost and expense base there, installed new leadership and made progress in the rigorous implementation of our group operating model, although we do not expect to see the benefit of these changes in 2014."