Chessington, Surrey-based Northamber Plc’s year end results to April 30 appear healthier than last year’s but still not healthy enough to warrant a full financial breakdown: Northamber says we’ll have to wait another week for that. The computer, printer and peripherals distributor saw pre-tax profits of ?669,000, against a loss last year of ?973,000, on turnover that increased 18% to ?114.5m. Although unavailable for comment, chairman, David Phillips’ official line goes something like this: The controlled increase in the sales revenues on our continuing operations was most welcome. This improvement was achieved despite having to process a disproportionate increase in volumes due to the ongoing and industry-wide price erosion. The opening months of this financial year have seen a comparatively healthy increase in sales. However, any optimism must be tempered by the constant pressure on both price and margin. Despite this fairly gloomy picture Northamber raised its dividend by 33% to 0.8 pence from 0.6p. And the company has now got BS5750/ISO accreditation in the hope that such added credibility will activate trading and increase profits next year.
