Services giant Computacenter’s recent fiscal year ‘exceeded expectations’ despite the pandemic’s impact on its international operations.
The company – which counts Poly and Vidyo among its UC and video vendors – reported overall revenue of £5.4bn for its FY20, an increase of nearly eight per cent on 2019’s figure, while adjusted profit before tax was up 46.5 per cent to £206.6m.
Computacenter admitted that it had experienced “significant operational and financial impacts” because of the coronavirus crisis. It added that new business wins in the public sector and financial services offset reduced spending from industrial customers.
The reseller’s Chief Executive Officer, Mike Norris, stated: “At the start of last year, our performance in 2019 set us a high bar for 2020. The COVID related lockdowns towards the end of the first quarter made improving on 2019 feel even more challenging.
“After multiple upgrades during the year and today’s excellent results it is clear that the 2020 performance has exceeded all expectations and 2020 has seen the fastest profit growth Computacenter has achieved in its 22 years as a public company. Clearly, the challenge it gives us is to grow again in 2021.”
The UK market was praised for its performance during the year, with revenues growing 11 per cent to £1.7bn. This was driven by its Technology Sourcing unit as demand for products and mobile devices soared as a result of the pandemic.
Overall Technology Sourcing, or reselling, revenue grew nearly 10 per cent to £4.1bn. While its Managed Services unit reported a revenue decline of two and a half per cent to £1.2bn.
Elsewhere, Computacenter’s German operations saw turnover fall two and a half per cent, while France was reported as having a “difficult year” due to being hit harder by reduced expenditure from industrial customers.
Its North American operation also underperformed, with a “weaker than expected” year which the company attributed to a marked reduction in activity by its higher margin mid-market customers, resulting in a slight revenue decrease. Its acquisition of Toronto-based Pivot Technology Solutions for £61m last year resulted in the Canadian solutions provider adding $292.7m to the group’s revenues.
“While Computacenter will always focus on the long term and resist the temptation of short-term actions to maintain growth, we feel the opportunity for progression this year, while not certain, is real. We have come into 2021 with solid momentum and have experienced a very positive start to the year,” Norris continued.
“Growth rates are obviously difficult to predict as our geographies will come out of lockdown at different times, but our experiences of the last 12 months has convinced us more than ever that our customers will continue to invest in Information Technology and will require the services of Computacenter to enable them to do so. This, combined with the fact that we are growing in more geographies and across more technology platforms than we have ever done before, makes us even more excited about our long-term growth potential.”
