Resellers' inability to access customer sites hampers B2B sales at Exertis parent

Although DCC Group stresses that it is pleased with trading across its four arms

Exertis parent DCC Group admitted on Friday that its B2B tech sales are being hit by a lack of onsight activity among its reseller partners, despite declaring itself pleased with its overall performance.

In an interim management statement , the Anglo-Irish outfit characterised its performance for its first quarter ending 30 June as "resilient", revealing that trading was above previous expectations but behind on an annual comparison.

Alongside its £3.9bn-revenue tech distribution arm - which trades as Exertis - DCC operates in the oil & gas and healthcare markets.

Although DCC CEO Donal Murphy said he was "pleased" with the performance of each of DCC's divisions during the quarter, the LSE-listed giant conceded that B2B tech sales have been hampered by the pandemic.

Operating profit for DCC Technology was "behind the prior year", the firm stated, although trading has "improved steadily" during the quarter.

Although DCC pointed to "good underlying demand" in the etail and non-traditional retail channels, it admitted that "B2B demand has been impacted more significantly, in particular for products dependent on resellers or integrators accessing business premises".

"Although a seasonally quieter period for the Group, I have been pleased with the performance of each of DCC's divisions during the quarter," Murphy added.

"The improving performance through the quarter has meant we have recommenced selective organic development capital expenditure to ensure we are in a position to capture any opportunity for market share gains during this period."

Last year, DCC Technology drew 68 per cent of its £3.9bn revenues from the UK & Ireland, where it bills itself as the second largest distributor. Some 17 per cent was generated by continental Europe, and 15 per cent from the rest of the world. It claims to be the third largest distributor in Sweden, and seventh largest in France.

DCC Technology has been acquisitive in recent years - last year snapping up a managed services business in Ireland and pro-AV specialist in Benelux.

The wider group remains "active from an acquisitive development perspective," Murphy confirmed.