UK is only bright spot for Proact as acquisition boosts revenue

European storage VAR saw revenues and profits fall across all regions except the UK in H1 results

The UK was the only region to show growth for Proact for the first half of this year, as the VAR blames declining revenues and profits on longer sales cycles and ongoing chip shortages.

The Stockholm-based Dell, NetApp and Pure Storage partner suffered a three per cent drop in group revenues for its six months ending 30 June to SEK 1772.1m (£147.97m), while EBITA fell by 11 per cent to SEK 87.6m.

Business fell across all but one of Proact's regions between January and June this year with the UK proving to be the only bright spot in its business.

UK revenues bucked the trend and grew by 34 per cent during the first six months of the year to SEK 358m, while profits grew by 24 per cent to SEK 22.7m.

The business was bolstered by its acquisition of Manchester-based Cetus Solutions, while organic revenues grew by 19 per cent, Proact claims.

The business benefited from "some major deals" but also from an easy compare with the first half of 2020 when the Covid pandemic first hit Europe.

"System" revenues grew by 69 per cent in the UK, while Services grew by a more modest five per cent.

Proact CEO Jonas Hasselberg said that the wider Proact group, which operates across the Nordics, Baltics, Benelux, Spain, Czech Republic and Germany, was negatively affected in Q2 by longer sales cycles and the ongoing chip shortage affecting the global IT market.

"Many customers are now careful regarding investment decisions, as it remains unclear how ways of working and structure will change in the longer run," said Hasselberg.

"Our continued view is that the declines primarily are related to longer sales cycles rather than lost business, and that we continue to have a strong position on a growing market."