31st Oct 2018 08:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - IT Infrastructure provider Computacenter PLC on Wednesday reported a 3% decline in third-quarter sales and said an expected improvement in the fourth quarter won't match its first half performance.
Shares in the company plunged 17%, trading at 1,039.90 pence each, the worst performing stock in the FTSE 250 index on Wednesday morning.
For the three months to September 30, Computacenter said group revenue dipped 3% to GBP900 million from GBP931.9 million a year prior. However, in the year-to-date, revenue remains up 11%.
"This small decline, compared to the strong results in the first half, is due to a significantly more challenging comparison," the company explained.
By division, the IT provider said Group Services revenue rose 1% both in the third quarter and in the nine months to-date.
Group Technology Sourcing revenue decreased by 5% during the quarter, leading to a year-to-date growth of 14%.
By geography, the UK saw revenue in the three-month-period down 9% to GBP296 million from GBP326 million in the quarter but up 17% so far in 2018.
In Germany, third quarter revenue was up 1% to GBP451 million from GBP448 million, and up 9% so far.
French revenue declined in the third quarter by 6% to GBP119 million from GBP127 million. It is down 2% year-on-year so far.
Finally, the company's International segment saw revenue up 13% in the third quarter to GBP34 million from GBP30 million, with a year-to-date growth of 12%.
Looking ahead, Computacenter said its 2018 outlook remains in line with the board's expectations as it guided for "an improved growth" in the fourth quarter, yet not at the same pace as experienced in the first half.
For the six months ended June 30, the company posted revenue of GBP2.01 billion and pretax profit of GBP52.0 million.
"As we look out further into the future our pipeline for Professional Services is building nicely while the Infrastructure Managed Services market place is somewhat more challenged which is making growth more difficult," the firm explained.
"However, we remain confident in our ability to gain Infrastructure Managed Services market share due to our focus on innovation and productivity improvements."
Computacenter will publish a further trading update on January 23.
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