Computacenter on new-business quest for star UK arm

UK sales jump seven per cent in Q1 as Computacenter ramps up its efforts to win new logos in home market

Computacenter is on a mission to win a "large amount" of new business in the UK, which was yet again the star performer in its fiscal Q1.

In a trading update this morning, the reseller and services leviathan said it was "particularly pleased" with its progress in the UK, despite seeing group revenues fall two per cent annually to £715.9m.

Computacenter said its drive to pull in new logos in its home market is on track.

"As we highlighted in our 2014 final results, the business is not without its challenges, particularly as we take on a large amount of new business in the UK," it said. "We are pleased to say that this is currently progressing well but it is likely to take another two quarters to get through this period of peak workload associated with bringing these new customers on board."

According to unaudited figures, UK sales swelled seven per cent to £361.4m in the three months to 31 March, with German revenues hiking five per cent in constant currencies to £252.3m.

Its loss-making French arm, however, suffered a 12 per cent fall in sales in constant currencies.

The figures did not include the contribution of RDC, the recycling business it sold to Arrow in February.

In the UK, supply chain revenues grew five per cent to £232.6m, despite jumping 27 per cent in the comparable quarter last year. Computacenter attributed this to the fact that customers have money to burn on enterprise datacentre and networking equipment after finishing upgrades from Windows XP.

UK services sales grew by 11 per cent to £128m, and Computacenter said its attempts are on track to offset the end of a significant part of a long-term contract at the beginning of Q2 by winning start-up contracts.