Computacenter (CCC) performed well in France and Germany in the first half, but couldn't capitalise on home advantage in the UK. Overall the group, which provides IT services and procures and deploys computing systems for organisations, stomached a 14 per cent slide to £25.3m in pre-tax profits, adjusted for currency movements, disposals and other one-offs.
The sharp decline in statutory earnings primarily reflects the £42m windfall from its sale of recycling subsidiary RDC in 2015. Nonetheless, underlying sales and profits fell in the UK, reflecting a surge of new professional services business in the comparative period, as well as supply chain customers procrastinating ahead of the EU referendum.
Sales of services and supply chain offerings both rose in Germany due to an upswing in managed services work and strong demand for security and private cloud infrastructure. Moreover, the smaller French segment's cost-cutting and focus on more profitable clients and products helped it swing to an adjusted operating profit of €1.2m (£1.0m). It also signed a managed services contract with a new customer that encompasses more than 65,000 users worldwide.
Broker Investec expects adjusted pre-tax profits of £85m for the full year, giving EPS of 52.8p, rising to £90.5m and 56.2p in 2017 (from £86.9m and 53.4p in 2015).
| COMPUTACENTER (CCC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 753p | MARKET VALUE: | £924m | |
| TOUCH: | 753-755p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 885p | LOW: 669p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.9% | PE RATIO: | 16 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 308p* | NET CASH: | £96.6m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p)† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1.44 | 70.7 | 49.6 | 6.4 |
| 2016 | 1.48 | 23.6 | 13.3 | 7.2 |
| % change | +3 | -67 | -73 | +13 |
Ex-div: 15 Sep Payment: 14 Oct *Includes intangible assets of £75.8m, or 62p a share †Excludes special dividend of 71.9p a share in 2015 | ||||
