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Computacenter signals strong finish to the year

After suffering soft market conditions in the first half of 2024, the channel player saw momentum pick up in the second half

Computacenter has indicated that its full-year results benefited from a strong second half.

The channel player will publish results for the year to 31 December 2024 in March, but has provided a trading update to give investors an idea of what’s coming.

Computacenter revealed in September that it had been hit by softer market conditions in the first half of the year but was seeing an improvement, with the second half delivering a record performance and business generated with a number of major customers.

“In the context of a more challenging market backdrop in 2024 and against a strong comparative in 2023, total revenue in 2024 for the group, on a gross invoiced income basis, increased by 0.5% in constant currency and decreased by 2% on a reported basis,” the firm outlined in its trading statement.

Computacenter also indicated that adjusted operating profit for the second half of 2024 is expected to be ahead of the equivalent period in 2023.

“This represents Computacenter’s most profitable half year in its history and we ended the year with a record number of customers generating over £1m of gross profit per annum,” the firm stated.

Technology sourcing gross invoiced income was marginally ahead year-on-year, and services revenue increased by 2%.

“This reflected a stronger performance in the second half of the year, with technology sourcing gross invoiced income increasing by 13% and services revenue up 5%. In services for 2024 as a whole, professional services delivered strong revenue growth, which was partly offset by a softer performance in managed services,” the firm added.

Last autumn, Computacenter indicated that demand for hardware in the UK had been weaker than expected, with customers cautious about making spending decisions. The move of some significant contracts in the US from the first half to the second half also didn’t help its numbers for the first six months of the year.

Germany and North America built momentum through the second half, but some of the larger sourcing projects in the UK slipped into 2025 as the market remained slow.

Computacenter ended December ahead of where it had been in the same month a year earlier, keen to continue building on that momentum and deliver on some of the projects that had slipped from earlier in 2024.

There were some comments about the prospects for this year in the statement, with Computacenter indicating that some challenges remained, particularly in the UK.

“In the UK, rises in employer taxes (National Insurance) from April are expected to have an adverse impact of c.£5m in 2025,” the firm warned.

The expectations are that North America will continue to perform strongly, with progress expected in the 2025 financial year.

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