Computacenter expects full year profits shortfall

Pressure on as Q2 closes

Posted in Financial News, 28th June 2005 14:55 GMT

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Computacenter expects profits for the full year will be substantially below market estimates.

The reseller and services giant said overall group sales for the first half will be around 10 per cent down from the previous year, adding “the final sales outcome will rely heavily on the last few days of the quarter.”

The shortfall in sales has depressed the company’s rebate levels, meaning a knock-on effect on margin levels. With no improvement in sight, profits will come in substantially below the market’s expectations.

Current market estimates, according to Yahoo Finance, are for pre-tax profits of £44.78m for the full year on revenues of £2.29bn.

While Computacenter’s managed services group showed continued growth this was still not as good as anticipated.

Computercenter reported difficult trading at the end of the of the first quarter, with sales down 10 per cent on the year. The difficult conditions continued into the second quarter, with an improvement in sales at the end of its first quarter fizzled out ion the second quarter, leaving Q2 product sales below expectations.

Back in April it warned that unless market conditions change, its profits would be "substantially below last year" when it reported profit of £67.3m on revenues of £2.46bn.

Shares in Computacenter were down 52 pence to 180 pence at time of writing.®