GCAT bumps up Computacenter sales

The GCAT contract won by Computacenter in September 1997 helped boost its half-year sales by 39 per cent to £766 million. Profit for the half-year to 30 June, the first results since Computacenter's flotation, were up 42 per cent to £31.3 million. Net margins remained solid at 4 per cent. The GCAT contract - an online catalogue of preferred government IT suppliers administered by EDS and Computacenter - helped boost sales into the public sector. Computacenter said that growth in the first six months was exceptional, with most public sector procurement being done in the first half of the year. But public sector sales were unlikely to be as strong in the second half of the year, according to Computacenter chairman Philp Hulme. The bulk of sales - and profits - for the half year came from the UK, but Hulme called the 56 per cent growth in Computacenter France "outstanding". Turnover in the UK was £688 million with £32.7 million profit, in France turnover was £70 million and profit £1.14 million, with Germany posting the only loss of £574,000 on sales of £13.9 million. Cash flow was positive, with a net inflow of £1.8 million, compared to a net outflow of £11.2 million last year. The cash-flow figures do not take into account the £49.6 million that Computacenter got through its flotation earlier this year.