The best and worst-performing publicly traded resellers of last year
From Computacenter and Softcat, to RM and Maintel, who was set fair - and who had a 'mare - on the stock market last year?
A host of channel firms - including the two biggest resellers in the industry - are listed on the stock exchange, and with 2018 now done and dusted, we have analysed the share price of the biggest listed firms in the channel, and ranked them in order of share price growth.
Broadly speaking, share prices climbed in the first six or seven months of the year, as IT sales continued to boom - even in areas such as on-prem datacentre, which many expected to struggle.
But the mood changed slightly after the summer with the bosses of a number of large firms, including Computacenter, Softcat and World Wide Technology, warning that spending my drop as many wait for the outcomes of political sagas including Brexit.
The figures below show the share prices of firms, in pence, along with how their share price changed between the start of the year (2 January) and the last day of trading (31 December).
15. IDE Group
Start price: 25.92
End price: 2.05
Percentage change: -92.09
The worst set of results I have ever had to provide commentary
A troubled spell of M&A activity for IDE Group came to a head last year, when its CEO stepped down in March and was slammed by the succeeding management.
In September executive director Ian Smith said the firm would likely have gone out of business under the previous management, accusing them of failing miserably to integrate acquired firms Selection Services, C4L and 365ITMS.
IDE has since sold 365ITMS by way of a management buyout.
Revenue for the six months ending 30 June was down less than £1m to £28.7m, with EBITDA swinging from a £2.4m profit to a £7m loss.
On publishing the report, Smith called the numbers "the worst set of results I have ever had to provide commentary", with "nothing positive to point to".
14. Capita
Start price: 410
End price: 112.25
Percentage up/down: -72.62
A stunning report from then-newly appointed CEO Jonathan Lewis in January last year saw Capita's share price plummet by over 50 per cent, equating to over £1bn, and never recover.
Lewis said that "significant change" was required at the outsourcing giant, slamming the previous regime for its acquisition-focused strategy and claiming the firm is spread too thinly across too many industries.
A half-year report, published in August, saw sales down four per cent, operating profit down 53 per cent and profit before tax down 59 per cent.
Lewis however claimed that good progress has been made with the firm's transformation plan.
A well-documented system error that saw 43,000 women not receive the correct correspondence regarding cervical cancer screening did nothing to improve Capita's image.
13. Adept4
Start price: 3.65
End price: 1.10
Percentage change: -69.86
Microsoft partner Adept4 saw operating costs increase last year, which hit margins and led to steady declines throughout the year.
The firm said it undertook a costs review in 2018, which was concluded towards the end of the year and therefore had a minimal impact on the year.
Adept4 said it expects revenue for the year ending 30 September 2018 to be in line with expectations, but gross profit margin will drop from 61 per cent to 56 per cent.
The firm also settled a dispute with the previous owners of a company it acquired, now known as Adept4 Managed IT Limited. The agreement means that Adept4 no longer has to make deferred payments of £1m and £1.5m, which boosted its share price by over 25 per cent in October.
12. Maintel
Start price: 630
End price: 465
Percentage up/down: -26.19
A strong first half of the year for Maintel hinted towards a revival, with the firm's share price climbing around 30 per cent in the first six months of 2018, following a difficult 2017.
Key Maintel ally Avaya struggled with a restructure in 2017, which the comms reseller said may have affected its own performance, before recovering at the turn of the year.
However, at the end of November the firm released a trading update claiming that its H2 revenue and EBITDA would be lower than expected.
It said that a shift away from short-term, quickly recognised deals and towards long-term projects was a contributor, along with project delays.
It expects EBITDA for its year ending 31 December 2018 to be between £12m and £12.5m, compared with £10.9m in the previous year.
In July Maintel (whose CEO, Eddie Buxton, is pictured above) acquired a batch of customers from Atos for £5.1m.
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The best and worst-performing publicly traded resellers of last year
From Computacenter and Softcat, to RM and Maintel, who was set fair - and who had a 'mare - on the stock market last year?
11. KCOM
Start price: 90.30
End price: 73
Percentage change: -19.16
A steady year for KCOM took a turn in November, when "poor performance" in its enterprise group saw its share price drop by nearly 30 per cent.
Overall revenue for KCOM dropped five per cent year on year to £143.3m, with the firm labelling its enterprise tech arm the culprit.
The results triggered a strategic review of the business, which it said could result in cost-cutting measures.
While the enterprise arm struggles, KCOM said its Hull and east Yorkshire phone line business is performing as expected.
10. BT
Start price: 275
End price: 238.1
Percentage change: -13.42
2018 was another year of transition for BT, with the telco
announcing a radical restructuring which would see it cut costs in its Global Services arm "significantly" resulting in 13,000 layoffs.
The firm also offloaded its £50m German VAR BT Stemmer to Bechtle.
Disappointing results led to the announcement that CEO Gavin Patterson is set to depart and be replaced by Worldpay boss Philip Jansen in February this year.
In BT's most recent trading update, published in November, Global Services was still being highlighted as the weak performer, with its sales declining seven per cent year on year to £2.3bn.
9. Computacenter
Start price: 1,142
End price: 1,006
Percentage change: -11.91
Looking at the starting and end prices of Computacenter's share price certainly does not tell the whole story of the giant's 2018.
A barnstorming first half of the year saw the firm's share price up over 40 per cent, claiming that full-year results will be "comfortably in excess" of expectations.
In the UK specifically sales rose nearly 30 per cent in H1, but two high-volume, low-margin deals "flattered" revenue.
Computacenter's share price has declined since the July peak, and ended the year 38 per cent down on its highest point (1,620p on 19 July).
Towards the end of the year the firm was one of a number of global players to warn of an imminent market cooldown, largely driven by global political issues such as the US-China trade war and Brexit.
Numbers aside, 2018 was also significant for Computacenter in that it made its long-awaited US acquisition, snapping up FusionStorm.
8. Shearwater
Start price: 3.12
End price: 2.95
Percentage change: -5.45
Shearwater raised its profile in the channel last year after acquiring Skyhigh and Juniper partner Brookcourt Solutions for £30.3m.
The move will boost Shearwater's revenue significantly. The firm reported a revenue of £6.2m for the year ending 31 March 2018, while Brookcourt turned over £20.8m in the same period.
Brookcourt is not Shearwater's sole acquisition over recent months, with the firm also snapping up two-factor authentication vendor SecurEnvoy and two other cybersecurity consultancies in Xcina and GeoLang.
The firm's share price peaked in July (almost double the price from the start of the year), but gradually declined throughout the second half of the year.
Interim results for the six months ending 30 September showed revenues had rocketed 118 per cent as a result of contributions from three of the acquired businesses. A contribution from Brookcourt was not included in these numbers.
7. RM
Start price: 202
End price: 203
Percentage change: +0.5
Looking at the percentage change RM's share price experienced in 2018, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a fairly uneventful year.
But by July the firm's share price had climbed over 18 per cent, before then declining to where it started.
A trading update posted in December showed that revenue for the year ending 30 November 2018 had increased 16 per cent year on year to £215.5m.
Results for the previous year ending 30 November, published in February, showed that RM's IT supplier division struggled to an 8.4 per cent sales drop.
The firm's two other units, focusing on the development of curriculum resources and the electronic assessment of exams, continue to be the growth drivers.
6. Adept Technology Group
Starting price: 315
End price: 346
Percentage change: +9.84
Adept Telecom contributed to an M&A frenzy last summer, snapping Shift F7 for £5m in a deal which it said nudges its revenue past the £50m mark.
The acquisition of Avaya specialist ETS followed in November.
The firm's annual share price growth of 9.84 per cent comes after seeing 13.6 per cent growth in 2017.
At the end of last year Adept announced that CEO Ian Fishwick would step into the role of chairman to head up acquisition strategy.
A half-year report published in November showed that sales for the six months ending 30 September 2018 had increased by 9.5 per cent, with managed services revenue up 19.2 per cent to £18m.
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The best and worst-performing publicly traded resellers of last year
From Computacenter and Softcat, to RM and Maintel, who was set fair - and who had a 'mare - on the stock market last year?
5. Softcat
Start price: 513
End price: 588
Percentage change: +14.62
Softcat's strong performance as a publicly listed company continued last year, as the firm broke through the £1bn revenue barrier for the first time in its history.
Full-year numbers published in October showed revenues had soared 30 per cent to £1.082bn, with net profit climbing 37 per cent to £55m.
2018 saw changes at the top for the reseller, with stalwart Martin Hellawell taking on the role of chairman and Graeme Watt (pictured) coming in as CEO.
Much like other tech suppliers, Softcat's share price peaked in the summer, up 73 per cent on its starting price, but declined in the autumn as fears of a market slowdown intensified.
4. SysGroup
Start price: 33
End price: 38.50
Percentage change: +16.67
Liverpool-based SysGroup made a number of acquisitions that contributed to strong growth last year, reporting year-on-year revenue growth of 47.3 per cent for the six months ending 30 September 2018.
Losses however widened, predominately as a result of integration costs from businesses it acquired - namely Rockford IT, NetPlan and System Professional - and implantation of a new CRM system.
CEO Adam Binks said the firm is starting to reap the benefits of the internal changes, which also include the refurbishing of its Liverpool HQ and London office.
3. K3
Starting price: 181.50
End price: 219
Percentage change: +20.66
After enduring a troubling 2017, in which its share price fell by over 40 per cent, K3 bounced back last year with its increasing focus on intellectual property paying dividends.
In July the firm reported a solid H1, with revenue up 2.6 per cent and gross profit up 14.3 per cent.
The shift to intellectual property is driven by new CEO Adalsteinn Valdimarsson, who says the business is also benefiting from a restructuring and streamlining process.
K3's own products, which predominately use Microsoft Dynamics as a base, contributed £9m to the £41.4m in H1, with a gross profit contribution of £6.8m towards a total of £21.6m.
In December K3 said that it expects its H2 figures, which have not yet been reported, to exceed expectations.
2. D4t4 Solutions
Starting price: 143.5
End Price: 184.50
Percentage change: +28.6
D4t4 Solutions followed up 2017, when its share price fell by over 20 per cent, with a strong 2018 in which its shares rose by just under 30 per cent.
In April the firm boasted of winning a number of "high-quality contracts", driven mostly by its Celebrus data collection software.
Revenue for the year ending 31 March 2018 rose 13.7 per cent year on year, with D4t4's "projects" business stealing the show at 31 per cent year-on-year sales growth.
Its licensing arm, meanwhile, saw revenue drop by over 20 per cent, signalling a shift away from transactional business and towards recurring revenue.
The firm's H1 revenue then rose by 194 per cent to £13.95m, with the jump coming from what it referred to as an "unusual" H2-weighted comparison year.
1. Castleton Technology
Starting price: 66.50
End price: 93.75
Percentage change: +40.98
Castleton followed up a year of 10 per cent share price growth in 2017 with an even better year, seeing its shares climb over 40 per cent.
In June the firm announced full-year results that saw sales rise 15 per cent year on year to £23.3m - 60 per cent of which is recurring revenue.
It also secured a number of long-term contracts, including a seven-year, £2.6m deal with North Hertfordshire Homes for managed desktops and a 10-year deal with Co-operative Housing Ireland.
A half-year report, published in November, showed revenue rising 20 per cent year on year to £12.9m
In May Castleton featured in the London Stock Exchange's 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain report.
The firm also acquired the licence to a software platform upon which it builds one of its products, meaning it will no longer have to pay the previous owner a fee.