LONDON: Computacenter has pointed to a strong pipeline of managed services opportunities as something to feel positive about after a trading update that revealed that the UK had been a tough trading environment in the last fiscal year.
Sales fell at the UK arm of Computacenter in 2016, according to a trading update in which the firm said it is reliant on a small number of large opportunities in the country. The firm has issued an interim statement for 2016 with indications that it was a tough time in the UK.
The channel giant has issued an update for the 12 months ending 31 December and said that overall the Group’s numbers will be in line with board expectations.
Group revenue was up by 6% for the year, service turnover improved by 5% and supply chain revenue was up by 7%. The impact of currency, one of the themes of last year, took its toll with those numbers respectively flat, down by 1% and flat when it came to measuring them in constant currency.
Currency fluctuations with the Pound and the dollar have been felt strongly in the UK, with some vendors increasing prices over the last few months and not surprisingly the numbers from Computacenter for the performance of this country were slightly down on last year.
UK revenue was down 1%, services dropped by 8% with supply chain on the rise by 3%, some of that was as a result of a particularly strong Q4.
France also saw revenues decline by 10% with both services and supply chain down, 3% and 11% respectively. The results from Germany were the shining star with the region producing 3% growth with services up by 7% and supply chain by 1%.
“We are encouraged by our performance in 2016 in Germany and pleased with the progress we have made in France. In the UK, the second half performance has been in line with our revised expectations, set at half year after a disappointing first half performance,” stated the firm in the update.
