‘It wos cabling wot did it’ – or rather didn’t do it – for Computacenter’s UK services business. After UK services revenues barely budged in H1 (see Product sales drag Computacenter UK down), a dearth of large construction projects saw demand for Computacenter’s cabling services fall, setting UK services revenues back 6% in Q3 (to 30th Sept.). UK product sales remained in decline (by 20%), though not quite as bad as the 23% hit in H1. As a result, UK total revenues fell by 15% to £234m in the quarter, just 36% of group total.
Across the board, Computacenter recorded headline growth of 5% to £652m, though this was a 1% organic decline. This brought ytd headline growth to 6% (+2% organic). Services revenues continue to grow faster than product revenues, up 6% ytd as reported (+4% organic). CEO Mike Norris says Computacenter is still on track to make the FY numbers and expects 2011 to be its best year ever in contracted services.
Norris made no specific comment in the trading update on HP’s proposal (or not, as the case may be) to spin out its PC business, but when I spoke to him recently, he seemed ‘relaxed’ about the impact this might have on Computacenter’s desktop products business. Recent industry estimates suggest that HP’s PC business gained volume share in (calendar) Q3, but of course this overlaps with HP’s final fiscal quarter (to 31st Oct), when you might expect much beating of bushes to close business.