Infinigate and Softcat provide investor cheer

Publicly listed channel players continue to share results that paint a picture of market conditions that support growth.

Most quarterly and full-year filings contain cautious words from the CEO or CFO about ongoing macroeconomic challenges, but the numbers speak for themselves in the main.

Westcon-Comstor yesterday delivered its FY’25 results with a decent performance boosted by security, cloud and networking, and that has been followed by full-year numbers from Infinigate and a positive Q3 trading update from Softcat.

Security, cloud and networking specialist Infinigate Group delivered a 17.5% year-on-year (YoY) improvement in revenues to hit €2.7bn.

The firm saw growth across Europe improve by 9%, with a 26% climb in MEA and a 35% increase in APAC as the group’s operations in those regions grew strongly.

“We have delivered strong results for the last financial year, despite an unstable macro-economic background, maintaining our growth trajectory towards our €5bn revenue target for financial year 2027-2028” said Klaus Schlichtherle, CEO of the Infinigate Group.

“Our MEA and ANZ teams are leading the growth trend we are working to emulate in Europe. We have the talent and potential to build on this growth in close partnership with our channel and vendor partners, especially given the projected growth in the cyber security market overall,” he added.

Commenting on her last results as CFO before handing over to newly appointed Thierry François, Kristiina Leppänen talked of the strength of its financial performance.

“We have achieved remarkable results for the past financial year, continuing to grow both organically and acquisitively thanks to our employees’ talent and commitment, strong alignment with vendor and channel partners, and rigorous financial management,” she said.

The business is continuing to expand its European channel partnerships, and yesterday announced a partnership with AI and automation specialist Torq.

The partnership will enable Infinigate to integrate Torq’s HyperSOC technology into the solutions it provides from several security vendors to enable customers to reduce the risks they are facing.

“Torq is experiencing unprecedented growth across Europe, and the Infinigate Group is an ideal channel partner for harnessing ever-elevating opportunities to meet enterprise demand,” said Usman Gulfaraz, EMEA vice-president of sales at Torq. “We see huge potential across Europe and look forward to working closely with Infinigate to sell, deploy and support Torq across the region.” 

At the same time, a brief statement from Softcat indicated that it was going to deliver solid numbers for the quarter that ended 30 April.

“The group continued to perform well during the Period, delivering strong double-digit YoY growth in gross profit and operating profit. Growth remains broad-based across technology areas and customer segments, supported by the conversion of some larger solutions projects in the Period,” the firm stated.

The progress made in the quarter also provided the business with confidence to forecast an improved finish to the fiscal year: “The board is pleased with progress to date and, reflecting the contribution from larger deals, now expects low-teen growth in operating profit for the full year, up from low double-digit previously.”

The results of the update could be felt in morning trading, with investors reacting to the positive tone with shares climbing by 4.4% to reach a high not seen since March 2022.