1 Computacenter

CRN staff
09 December 2019

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Revenue: £1.62bn (+10%)

Net profit margin: 2.8% Staff: 4,126

Speaking at CRN's recent European Channel Leadership Forum (ECLF), Computacenter CEO Mike Norris asserted that the channel is in the middle of a "super cycle" of growth from which all resellers should be benefiting.

Computacenter itself is certainly grabbing its share of the spoils, with a 10 per cent annual spike in its UK top line enough to ensure it retains its status as this country's largest reseller by a £200m margin.

The LSE-listed giant posted domestic revenues of £1.62bn in its year to 31 December 2018, with good old-fashioned product resale - or ‘Technology Sourcing' as Computacenter refers to it - generating all the growth). Net profits followed suit, bulging from £41.2m to £45.1m.

Driven partly by an international M&A push, group revenues soared by 15 per cent to £4.35bn, with Computacenter's German, French and international arms contributing a respective €2.12bn, €557m and £381m to the total.

2019 has brought more mixed fortunes for Computacenter's UK business, with sales here down eight per cent to £794m in its fiscal first half, despite group revenues hiking by 21 per cent  to £2.43bn.

However, Norris, who became the longest-standing chief executive of a FTSE 350 firm last year upon the abrupt departure of WPP's Martin Sorrell, gave a glowing assessment of the health of the industry at ECLF.

"If you put £1,000 into a reseller, you'd have done a lot better than if you had invested it in Atos, Capgemini and the service companies. Five years ago no-one would have told you to invest it in resellers, not even me," he said.

"So if you haven't done well over the last five years then you need to look at yourself, because you should have done well. The channel is in a fantastic position."