Softcat shares soar following trading update

Reseller expecting to beat expectations this financial year

Softcat shares soared over eight per cent this morning after the reseller said it expects to beat financial expectations this year.

In a trading update Softcat said that it has "continued to trade well across all segments" during its Q3, with its financial year coming to a close on 31 July.

The reseller did not release figures for Q3, but said the board is "confident" that it will beat full-year expectations.

In the first half of its current financial year, which ran until 31 January, Softcat reported a year-on-year revenue jump of 24.9 per cent, to £472.8m.

Commenting on the Q3 performance new CEO Graeme Watt, who replaced Martin Hellawell in April, said: "We continue to hit our goals across the business. We've achieved this through our high energy focus on winning new customers and selling more of our technology and services portfolio to existing customers.

"This simple strategy is serving us well and we still have considerable market share opportunity.

"As I get to know the company my immediate priorities are spending time with our people and customers. I'd like to thank the Softcat team for such a warm welcome and our customers and suppliers for their continuing support."

Softcat's share price rose over 8.3 per cent when the London Stock Exchange opened this morning, taking the reseller's market cap to £1.41bn.