The best and worst-performing publicly listed UK resellers of 2019
We run through how resellers listed in London fared last year
The biggest publicly listed resellers in the UK finished the decade in style last year, with channel giants Softcat and Computacenter both seeing their share prices rocket as we entered the twenties.
As it has done consistently over recent years, the channel has largely defied microeconomic uncertainty and continued to benefit from the digital transformation that its clients are working through.
The General Election at the end of 2019 also provided a lift to UK IT share prices, with a clear Conservative majority providing some much-needed clarity.
But some firms struggled, as the industries they sell to continue to be disrupted, or the competition from born-in-the-cloud players intensifies.
The figures below show the share prices of firms, in pence, along with how their prices changed between the first day of trading (2 January) and the close of the market (31 December).
14. K3
Start price: 219
End price: 145.5
Percentage change: -33.6
Current market cap: £62.5m
K3's share price tumbled by nearly a third in October when it revealed that sales had fallen "significantly" below expectations.
The firm said that the loss of two large deals was the main reasons for the decline, with one potential deal failing to reach completion and a big customer going into administration.
One analyst said that K3 is likely struggling because of the difficulties currently being experienced by the UK retail sector, which the reseller typically targets.
K3's share price had been relatively steady until this point.
13. Shearwater
Start price: 295
End price: 215
Percentage change: -27.12
Current market cap: £46.8m
Security provider Shearwater reported that its full-year revenue had quadrupled in August, up to £23.5m.
However, the acquisitive firm revealed an EBITDA loss of £1.4m, as a result of unexpected costs related to an acquisition.
Shearwater has since published six-month interim results, where EBITDA swung to a £1m profit.
Former UKFast boss Lawrence Jones took a 13.3 per cent stake in the cybersecurity provider in June, after the firm acquired assets from his pen-testing business Secarma.
The firm has been on an M&A streak over recent years, and highlighted the performance of Brookcourt Solutions, which it acquired in 2018, in its full-year report.
12. Castleton Technology
Start price: 93.8
End price: 73
Percentage change: -22
Current market cap: £59.7m.
Castleton started the year in spectacular fashion, announcing two acquisitions in two months.
Strong full-year results published in June showed that sales for the year ending 31 March 2019 rose 13 per cent to £26.4m, while EBITDA rose 24 per cent.
But the firm's share price tumbled in October when it said that its performance in Q2 was "significantly weaker" than expected. Sales fell 11 per cent to £11.6m, while EBITDA was flat at £2.3m.
11. BT
Start price: 240
End price: 192.4
Percentage change: -19.8
Current market cap: £19.3bn
BT continues to work its way through a tough restructuring, with the telecoms giant once again failing to impress investors.
In August the firm's share price dipped to its lowest point in around 10 years, but has seen a steady recovery in the months since (up 21 per cent).
In December BT announced that it had agreed the sale of its domestic business in Spain to Portobello Capital.
Half-year results published in October revealed that sales had fallen one per cent to £11.5bn, which it said was due to the exiting of low-margin business.
In July the business also sold its HQ for £210m, as part of a pledge to reduce its UK offices by 90 per cent.
10. SysGroup
Start price: 39.5
End price: 33.5
Percentage change: -15.2
Current market cap: £16.6m
Acquisitive MSP SysGroup made two acquisitions in the first half of 2019, in the form of Dell EMC Gold partner Certus IT and colocation provider Hub Network Services.
The firm published its results for the 12 months ending 31 March 2019 in June, with revenue climbing 22 per cent to £12.77m.
The growth continued in the following H1, with sales up 60 per cent to £9.3m.
However, SysGroup said that revenue was affected by "macroeconomic uncertainty", which weakened the income derived from product reselling.
It also said that it decommissioned its Coventry datacentre, moving customers to existing facilities as it implemented cost savings from its Certus acquisition.
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The best and worst-performing publicly listed UK resellers of 2019
We run through how resellers listed in London fared last year
9. Maintel
Start price: 465
End price: 407
Percentage change: -12.5
Current Market cap: £59.2m
Maintel's share price has fallen steadily since its 2019 peak in March, when it revealed its shift away from short-term deals and towards recurring revenue.
Recurring revenue contributed 70 per cent of all sales for the year ending 31 December 2018, with revenue climbing eight per cent to £136.6m.
Sales in the half-year that followed fell three per cent, however, to £64.5m, which it said was a reflection of the shift from transactional selling.
The firm appointed a new chief exec, with Ioan MacRae leaving his role as UK boss of key Maintel partner Avaya to take the helm. The move saw Eddie Buxton depart after a decade at the reseller.
8. Adept Technology Group
Start price: 346
End price: 333
Percentage change: -3.8
Market cap: £78.1m
Adept saw revenue rocket by a quarter year on year to £30.8m in its H1, which it reported in November last year.
The majority of the growth came from three acquired businesses - ACS Group, which was bought for £5.24m in April; Shift F7 and ETS.
EBITDA margin was however down slightly, to 19.8 per cent from 21.2 per cent in the comparative half last year.
7. D4t4 Solutions
Start price: 192.5
End price: 218.5
Percentage change: 13.5
Market cap: £86.2m
D4t4 enjoyed a barnstorming H1 last year, in which its share price rose by over one third.
Total revenue for the year ending 31 March 2019 was £25.24m, up 36.8 per cent, with the sale of the firm's own intellectual property contributing £9.2m.
But its share price fell by around one fifth from the end of October to the beginning of December, after H1 results showed a revenue dip of 36 per cent.
The biggest drop came in the sale of its own IP, which fell 71.7 per cent.
D4t4 said this was "the largest effect of the anticipated H2 weighting".
6. CloudCoCo Group
Start price: 1.1
End price: 1.48
Percentage change: 34.5
Market cap: £7.3m
In December Adept4 changed its name to that of the CloudCoCo business it acquired in October for £6.1m.
During the period of negotiation the firm's share price rocketed over 850 per cent, as traders got wind of a potential deal - forcing the firm to release a statement confirming its intentions.
The business has endured a tough couple of years and recently finished a cost-cutting programme.
Interim numbers for the six months ending 31 March 2019 showed that revenue fell 22.2 per cent to £4.2m.
But chairman Simon Duckworth said the business has reduced cash burn and debt service costs, and is "taking positive steps to return the business to growth".
5. RM
Start price: 203
End price: 286
Percentage change: 40.9
Current market cap: £235.7m
RM enjoyed a strong 2019, with its share price rocketing over 40 per cent.
The education specialist announced at the start of the year that it had smashed through the £200m revenue barrier, with its education curriculum business in particular seeing success.
In June, RM acquired Australia-based SoNET Systems, which provides a software-as-a-service platform targeting the education and government sectors.
However, the second half of the year has been tougher in the "difficult schools market".
In a December trading update chief executive David Brooks said that trading "remains challenging" in the resources businesses, but said the firm had seen growth in its two technology divisions, which includes a reseller arm.
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The best and worst-performing publicly listed UK resellers of 2019
We run through how resellers listed in London fared last year
4. Capita
Start price: 114.20
End price: 164.1
Percentage change: 43.7
Current market cap: £2.8bn
After enduring a torrid few years Capita has finally showed signs of turning a corner.
It was more of the same in H1, with the firm's share price dropping over seven per cent, but a strong second half of the year saw its valuation end up over 40 per cent higher than at the start of 2019.
Half-year results, published in August, were less than spectacular, with sales falling eight per cent to £1.9bn, and operating profit falling 10.3 per cent to £60.8m.
However, the firm said that its multi-year transformation programme remains on track, and has since published a number of notices with the London Stock Exchange revealing high-profile contract wins with the likes of the National Trust and The Co-operative Bank.
Capita has also reorganised its IT businesses into two divisions - Software; and IT and Networks.
In the case of the software business, Capita said it was faced with the challenge of "transforming what was a division of 29 siloed businesses into a single software business".
3. Computacenter
Start price: 995
End price: 1,773
Percentage change: 78.2
Current market cap: £2.05bn
Another solid 12 months from Computacenter saw the reseller regularly publish positive trading updates and reports, finishing 2019 by revealing that its fiscal year will be "well ahead" of 2018.
It wasn't always plain sailing for the UK arm, which saw sales decline eight per cent in H1 - but the rest of the business more than compensated as sales rose by one fifth to £2.4bn.
Earlier in the year group CEO Mike Norris had told CRN that the reseller's foray into the US market via its acquisition of FusionStorm had gone "astonishingly well".
The US arm later bounced back from a slow H1 with a strong performance in Q3.
Computacenter also reacquired the ITAD business that it sold to Arrow in 2015.
2. Softcat
Start price: 580
End price: 1,152
Percentage change: 98.6
Current market cap: £2.34bn
Softcat's remarkable run on the London Stock Exchange continued last year, with the reseller now the most valuable reseller in the UK by market capitalisation.
CEO Graeme Watt presided over his first full-year in charge, with sales rocketing 24 per cent to £991.8m.
Watt told CRN that we can expect to see more of the same from Softcat over the coming year, with the focus largely remaining on winning more UK market share.
The firm has also set up branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Australia and the US to cater for UK customers with overseas presences.
The strong full-year numbers were followed up with a Q1 trading update in November which revealed the firm had "maintained strong momentum".
1. IDE Group
Start price: 2
End price: 4.4
Percentage change: 120
Current market cap: £17.6m
IDE was still in a period of transition when it started 2019 and actually saw its share price drop 65 per cent in H1.
At the end of June, trading of the firm's shares was suspended after it was forced to delay the publication of its audited financial results.
But these results were eventually confirmed at the end of July, with the firm's valuation climbing over 300 per cent when trading resumed.
Its share price rose further when half-year results revealed that a £7.6m adjusted EBITDA loss had swung to a £1.2m profit. Losses after tax were reduced from £35.5m to £2.9m.
The firm finished the year by revealing a number of significant contract wins, including three contracts worth at least £1m per year - a farcry from 2018 when the business could have gone bust.