Computacenter coughs to gloomy first quarter

Computacenter has warned of difficult trading in the first quarter of 2008, especially in France and the UK.

The reseller said business in the UK had picked up towards the end of the quarter. They came in at £346.6m, up 1.1 per cent overall but down 1.5 per cent on a like for like basis. Sales in Germany were flat. Non-UK sales in local currency were down 7.1 per cent to €332.8m, mainly due to France. Overall group sales were up 1.8per cent to £598.4m.

Sales in all geographies were also hit by Easter being earlier than usual.

The company believes it will recover in the second half of the year and hit its targets for the full year.

But pre-tax profits will be skewed to the second half of the year which means it might miss its targets for the first half. This is because Computacenter will increasingly rely on Germany, where profits are always better in the second half of the year.

Coming on the back of dire figuers from DSGi yesterday, which showed sales down at its computing business, it appears both the consumer and corporate ends of the UK coputer sector are not having a very good time at the moment. Or at least that the established players are missing out.

Computacenter holds its Annual General Meeting today at 11am. ®