Computacenter (CCC) reported a 2 per cent increase in adjusted pre-tax profits at the half-year mark, to £26.2m, but exceptional items totalling £29.3m dragged the IT infrastructure service provider's statutory earnings into negative territory.
The charges included a £10.7m provision against future losses on three contracts undertaken in Germany in 2011, and a £12.2m impairment charge linked to deteriorating business performance in France - which is showing little sign of recovery. On the plus side, Computacenter increased the half-year payout and completed a £75m cash and shares return to shareholders in July.
Overall revenues were down by 1.7 per cent on a constant currency basis to £1.43bn, which was largely attributable to a poor showing by the French supply chain business. Encouragingly, however, Computacenter's UK unit managed to consolidate the strong revenue gains of last year, pushing adjusted operating profits up 14.2 per cent to £20.1m.
Excluding the three "onerous" contracts, Computacenter's German business actually turned in a 31 per cent increase in adjusted operating profit to €11.4m (£9.7m), with the second-quarter performance offering cause for guarded optimism, according to management. Trading conditions in France remain challenging, as demonstrated by an operating loss of €5.4m in the first half, up from €0.9m.
Investec anticipates normalised 2013 EPS of 42p (from 40.8p in 2012)
| COMPUTACENTER (CCC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 513p | MARKET VALUE: | £711m | |
| TOUCH: | 512p-515p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 564p | LOW: 331p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.1% | PE RATIO: | 30 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 240p* | NET CASH: | £97.1m | |
| Half-year to 30 June | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 (restated) | 1.42 | 20.8 | 10.3 | 5.0 |
| 2013 | 1.43 | -4.35 | -5.7 | 5.2 |
| % change | +0 | - | - | +4 |
Ex-div: 18 Sep Payment: 18 Oct *Includes intangible assets of £94.4m, or 68p a share | ||||
