PCM CEO: We've 'shut down' Brexit as an excuse

PCM UK sees revenue grow 50 per cent, but wider business sees decline

PCM CEO Frank Khulusi says he is refusing to accept Brexit as a reason for any potential slowdown in the UK operation's growth.

Speaking on an earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, the chief executive said that UK management has been speaking more about Brexit, but claimed that the political saga should not be considered as a justification for any slowdown.

PCM reported UK sales of £13.4m for the quarter ending 31 March, up 50 per cent on the previous year.

"We started hearing a bit more noise on our last quarterly business review call," he said.

"The management team was talking about Brexit in more ways and more detail than they have before, and we quickly shut them down on that, as we're trying to hold them accountable to results that don't factor in that backdrop.

"Their premise is that there has been too much uncertainty back and forth - now it's happening, now it's not happening, delays, etc - which is affecting the demand environment over there.

"Our counterpoint to them is we are small and we want to grow, and we can take a lot of share, which they agree with.

"So we continue to believe that the share we can take is very significant in the marketplace. We also believe that as the uncertainty itself subsides, it should help us in our growth in that market in a relatively large manner."

The wider PCM business saw sales decline two per cent to $534m (£413m).

Khulusi, however, called it a "strong start" to 2019, claiming the reseller has exited "certain non-strategic lower-margin sales".

Gross margin improved by 20 basis points.

The CEO again highlighted that the UK business is being restricted by its lack of participation on public sector frameworks, having only set up in the UK in 2017.