2. Computacenter

GII: £2.21bn

Employees: 4,167

Computacenter may still be the UK’s second-largest reseller, but 2024 wasn’t its finest vintage. Annual UK gross invoiced income fell 7.1 per cent to £2.21bn, dragged down by sluggish resale volumes and slower customer decision-making—blamed in part on July’s general election.

Across the group, earnings from managed services took a hit (notably due to a contract issue in Germany), while professional services were a brighter spot—particularly in North America and Germany.

Group gross profit rose a healthy 10.2 per cent to £1.04bn, even as it dipped 3.2 per cent to £250.8m in the UK.

CEO Mike Norris said the second half of 2024 was the “most profitable in our history”, after a challenging first half skewed the company’s overall performance.

Technology sourcing in North America helped lift global figures in Q3, despite resale volumes missing the mark in some areas.

Despite patchy regional performance, Computacenter has kept shareholders sweet with a £200m share buyback, nearly complete as of April 2025.

The company maintains a strong balance sheet and is bullish about long-term prospects—even if the UK continues to be its problem child.

The results were negatively impacted by a greater customer caution throughout the year, with purchasing decisions taking longer to conclude, reportedly affected by the general election in July.

Another large underperforming contract impacted managed services in Germany, bringing managed services earnings down 7.2 per cent.

Total revenue in the country fell by two per cent, while total GII shrank 7.5 per cent.

On the other hand, professional services revenue was on the up in both Germany and North America but declined 5.2 per cent in Western Europe.