Exclusive: CDW joins Softcat and Computacenter in the £1bn club

CRN understands CDW UK is now a £1bn operation

CDW UK has broken the £1bn revenue barrier for the first time, CRN understands.

The reseller does not break out exact figures for the UK business, instead grouping it with its Canadian business, but multiple sources have told CRN that the firm has joined Computacenter and Softcat in having a £1bn UK operation.

The US-based firm saw overall sales for 2018 increase 9.5 per cent to $16.2bn (£12.5bn).

The combined UK and Canadian business, grouped together as "other" operations, saw revenue increase 22.9 per cent to £1.9bn.

On an earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, CDW chief exec Christine Leahy said that the UK business is seeing growth in hybrid IT.

"In the UK we captured strong customer demand for both datacentre and client devices, which drove excellent growth in the quarter," she said.

"As in the US, customers are evaluating hybrid solutions with interest in both on-premise and cloud-based offerings.

"US-to-UK referrals were again up significantly."

Leahy also said that CDW has implemented a Brexit contingency plan, including setting up base in Europe.

Last year Canalys predicted that the firm would acquire one of the top 10 channel firms on the continent.

"We've established a presence on the continent so we can continue to support customers with similar service levels and minimal disruption," she said.

"This is an action we would have taken anyway given CDW UK's success to date and future growth opportunities, supporting our customers with IT needs in the EU."

In CDW's most recent accounts filed with Companies House, the firm reported a UK revenue of £719.4m, up 11 per cent from the previous year.