Net profit for the full year ended December 31 was 65.2m pounds ($118m) on group revenue that fell 6.7% to 1.8bn pounds ($3.3bn), excluding revenue from the acquisitions of Germany’s CC CompuNet and Austria’s GECITS both of which were acquired in January 2003. Including the acquisitions, revenue rose 28.8% to 2.48bn pounds ($4.5bn).
The UK provided a significant contribution in services revenue, according to Computacenter chairman Ron Sandler, who said managed services revenue from the region grew 10.9%. Prominent contracts included a five-year desktop managed services contract with UK banking firm Abbey.
Earnings were also boosted by its German operations, which reported operating profit of 8.7m pounds ($15.8m), ahead of expectations. As in the UK, this was as a result of cost reductions and an increase in managed services contracts including a four-year support services contract with Deutsche Borse. Germany now represents Computacenter’s second biggest region, with 635.15m pounds ($1.15bn) revenue over the year, compared to the UK, which generated sales of almost 1.5bn pounds ($2.7bn).
France did not fare so well after difficulties with the integration of GECITS in 2002, and low staff utilization over the first half of 2003. Operations in the country recorded a 2.7m pound ($4.8m) operating loss on revenue of 324.5m pounds ($587.6m).
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
