A third-quarter update from Softcat (SCT) revealed that it had achieved growth in revenue, gross profit and operating profit, with cash receipts broadly in line with normal trends. But management flagged a high degree of uncertainty in the months ahead and that the group is by no means immune to the challenges in the wider economy.
Still, Softcat’s ability to deliver earnings growth in an especially difficult trading environment in the third quarter is encouraging. Indeed, the group’s performance over the past nine months has been robust, supported by strong first-half results which revealed that average gross profit per customer had increased by 12 per cent. While progress may well slow in the final three months of its financial year, especially as revenues are historically higher in the second half, its May trading update suggests that it should be able to drive overall growth.
Managing director Colin Brown took the opportunity to sell shares worth £1.3m in two transactions on 4 and 5 June. Softcat declined to comment on the sale.
Buys | ||||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
GetBusy | Miles Jakeman | 1 Jun 20 | 150,000 | 64 | 96,000 | |
International Personal Finance | Stuart Sinclair (ch) | 4 Jun 20 | 86,944 | 57 | 49,558 | |
Braveheart Investment Group | Trevor Brown | 5 Jun 20 | 972,385 | 17 | 165,306 | |
Lok'nStore | Charles Peal | 5 Jun 20 | 7,200 | 498 | 35,856 | |
Lok'nStore | Antonia Peal | 5 Jun 20 | 7,200 | 492 | 35,424 | |
Sells | ||||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
Avast | Ulf Claesson | 4 Jun 20 | 250,000 | 486.89 | 1,217,225 | |
XP Power | Andy Sng | 4 Jun 20 | 7,900 | 3,557 | 281,003 | Exercise and sale of options |
SSP | Gail Davies | 4 Jun 20 | 300,000 | 315.50 | 946,493 | PCA of CFO Jonathan Davies, sold to facilitate property purchase |
Softcat | Colin Brown | 4-5 Jun 20 | 120,000 | 1,111 | 1,333,024 | Aggregate price |
Clinigen | John Hartup | 5 Jun 20 | 5,000 | 8.865 | 44,325 | |
JD Sports | Peter Cowgill | 5 Jun 20 | 1,985,000 | 671.77 | 13,334,635 | Residual interset of 0.67% |
Young & Co | Patrick Dardis (ceo) | 8 Jun 20 | 10,500 | 1,110 | 116,550 | |
Young & Co | Torquil Sligo-Young | 8 Jun 20 | 10,000 | 725 | 72,500 | |
Aston Martin | Amr Ali Abdallah Abouelseoud | 8 Jun 20 | 300,000 | 78.93 | 236,780 | Sold by PCA |
Kainos Group | Paul Gannon | 8 Jun 20 | 115,000 | 8.65 | 9,950 | |
Kainos Group | Paul Gannon | 8 Jun 20 | 1,500 | 8.3 | 125 |