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It’s a nerve-racking time as Q3 results roll in following our fantastic summer of ‘Jubilympics’, which turned out to be not so fantastic for UK business. However, it has to be said, Computacenter’s UK operations outperformed the comparable period last year. Year-on-year growth for Q3 was 12% (to £265m), or 8% over the course of 2012. The performance of the Services business reflects the fact that new contracts have come on stream, plumping-up year-to-date growth by 16%. Furthermore, the pipeline’s looking “strong” for the rest of the year, which bodes well for 2013. There haven’t been any real stellar-sized Services signings, but nonetheless there has been some good momentum provided by a flow of reasonably sized deals.
At the Group level, total revenues increased 6% (organic and at constant currency) to £656m. The year-to-date figure is £2.07bn, which represents 7% growth (constant currency basis and “virtually unaffected by acquisitions”). And again, Services is also doing nicely with 13% growth over last year, or 15% year-to-date (constant currency).
The performance of the business in mainland Europe has been rather more mixed. Germany only managed a flat revenue performance at constant currency over last year – although the Services operations grew 7% (constant currency). However, it hasn’t all been plain sailing by any means, as CEO Mike Norris explained to analysts this morning. Certain costs have been incurred that were higher than expected, although Norris seems to have gained control of this now. Next door in France, the business registered 7% growth (constant currency) over the same period last year, and 16% in Services specifically.
In sum: better than this time last year which, given our own forecasts for the UK Infrastructure Services market (see here) - and the macro economic environment more broadly - is more than a minor achievement. The first half of 2013 also looks good for the UK Services business with new contracts coming on stream now that will provide a nice cushion from a revenue perspective.
