Computacenter planning to launch direct presence in US

UK's largest reseller/services firm announces plans to set up operations on the other side of the Atlantic as it warns of slowing UK sales

Computacenter is planning to launch a direct presence in the US, the reseller and services giant revealed in its annual results statement.

"In the future we are planning to begin direct, rather than partner-based, operations in the USA, and the setting up of a support centre in Mexico," Computacenter chairman Greg Lock said.

He added: "We serve customers in more than 100 countries, but we sell to enterprises whose home is in one of five countries, [those] being the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland. In accordance with the group's strategy, we continue to invest in our services capabilities with which we support and enable the end users of our customers."

Computacenter's share price dropped four per cent this morning as it revealed its largest operation, the UK, would experience a "more challenging" year.

For its financial year ending 31 December 2015, adjusted group revenues were flat at £3.054bn, while adjusted pre-tax profits rose 7.2 per cent to £86.9m. The adjusted figures exclude the contribution of RDC, the IT disposal outfit Computacenter sold to Arrow in February 2015.

Breaking it down by country, UK sales grew 2.6 per cent to £1.407bn, with services growing 7.7 per cent to £532.4m and supply chain flat at £875m. German sales rose 14 per cent to €1.65bn (£1.28bn), while French sales dropped by 6.3 per cent to €548.1m.

But Computacenter CEO Mike Norris (pictured) warned that the UK, which has been the star performer in recent years, will have a tougher 2016, "particularly in the first half".

"Services revenue will decline in 2016 due to the expiry of a large contract at the end of the first quarter of 2015 and the large volume of business take-on last year creating a challenging comparison, coupled with the one-off £3m gain highlighted in our Interim Statement in 2015," he said.

However, Lock was upbeat about last year's numbers.

"Our results in 2015 were pleasing as, despite a substantial decline in the euro, we made our profit objective for the year, and on a constant currency basis grew our adjusted revenue by 5.5 per cent," he said.