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Computacenter PLC on Tuesday said ‘excellent’ growth in North America powered sales growth in the first of 2025 although pretax profit fell as margins declined. The Hatfield, England-based technology services provider said pretax profit fell 13% to £73.2 million in the six months to June 30 from £84.0 million a year prior. Diluted earnings per share declined 12% to 46.5 pence from 52.9p. Adjusted operating profit rose 1.2% to £82.1 million from £81.1 million, or by 4.2% at constant currency. Adjusted operating profit growth was driven by ‘excellent’ growth in North America, ‘good’ growth in the UK, partly offset by softer performances in Germany and particularly France, as well as increased group-wide investment to ‘secure future growth’. Revenue leapt 29% to £3.99 billion from £3.10 billion, or by 31% at constant currency. Within this, Technology Sourcing revenue jumped 38% to £3.18 billion from £2.31 billion and Services revenue edged up 1.5% to £808.8 million from £796.5 million. But gross margin declined 257 basis points to 12.6% from 15.2% a year ago. ‘We executed well during the first half delivering growth in both Technology Sourcing and Services against a backdrop of significant macroeconomic and political uncertainty,’ said Chief Executive Mike Norris. In response, shares in Computacenter rose 5.3% to 2,448.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning. The firm reported another record performance in North America driven by growth in hyperscale and enterprise customers, with operating profit nearly doubling year on year. North America now accounts for 44% of adjusted operating profit (before central costs) compared to 24% a year ago. The UK returned to growth while Germany and France were impacted by temporary lower levels of public sector activity, the company added. The dividend was increased by 1.3% to 23.6 pence from 23.3p. Looking ahead, CEO Norris said Computacenter has has a ‘healthy’ order backlog position and has made a ‘strong start to our third quarter, especially in North America’. The firm said while the broader geopolitical and macro uncertainty is expected to persist, ‘we anticipate some recovery in public sector activity in Germany in the second half while France is expected to remain challenging.’ ‘Overall, we continue to expect full year adjusted operating profit in 2025 to be ahead of the prior year, including an adverse [around] £4 million currency translation impact,’ it added. In 2024, the company reported adjusted operating profit of £246.7 million, which was down 9.1% from £271.5 million in 2023. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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