Spending on IT equipment grew by nearly 9% in the first half of
this year, according to a survey out today.
In apparent defiance of the effects of the "credit crunch", the
GfK IT Barometer survey says more than £5bn was spent - £400m more
than in the same period last year.
The growth is put down to consumers' demand for mobile
computers, coupled with a surge in sales of peripheral items, such
as hard disc-drives, mice and keyboards.
The barometer, which tracks trends across the IT market, shows
higher growth than that
reported for last year.
The latest figures show that in the first six months of 2008,
sales of laptops grew by 24% in value compared with last year. But
sales of desktop PCs fell by 2% during the same period.
Corporate sales grew by only 4% in value in the period, but
consumer sales jumped 18%, according to the survey. This suggests
businesses are being more cautious than consumers during this rocky
economic time, says GfK.
Anthony Norman, business group director at GfK, said, "We were
expecting to see a slowdown in consumer IT spending in the first
half of 2008, but this has not been the case. Consumers have
continued to spend their disposable income on IT hardware and
software.
"However, it is noticeable that in the corporate sector many
businesses are listening to analysts' predictions on the current
economic climate and have been careful about their IT spend."
But he added, "We must ask just how long the IT sector's
performance can continue to remain positive in the face of
difficult financial times."
Meanwhile, other figures also suggest the technology sector has
so far ridden out the credit crunch. Although mergers and
acquisitions (M&As) have fallen this year because of lack of
availability of finance, M&As in the technology sector are
proving resilient.
Last week saw software supplier
Detica agree to a takeover by BAE Systems for about £538m.
And according to figures by
Regent Associates, an M&A
specialist that focuses on the IT sector, there were almost as many
technology deals in Europe in the first half of 2008 as there were
last year - 779 compared with 787.
M&A activity in the sector is underpinned by a view among
buyers that stock markets are placing too low a valuation on
technology companies.