Computacenter: Profit down by a third on ‘weak demand’ for UK tech

London-based tech company Computacenter announced a drop in profit before tax by a third for the first half of the year on weaker than expected demand in the UK industry.

The £2.97bn firm, which helps businesses set up and manage their computer systems and software efficiently, expected its profit before tax for the half year ended 30 June to reach £87m.

This would have meant a year-on-year drop in profit before tax of around 30 per cent.

The significant drop in profit in the first half of the year has been due to “weaker than expected” demand for hardware in the UK, the company said, with customers “exercising greater caution and purchasing decisions taking longer to conclude”.

The group performed well in Germany and North America, it said, and expect “certain large orders” to be fulfilled in North America in the second half if the year.

The first-half result has also been impacted by “the timing of fulfilment of certain large orders in North America” which have now moved into the second half of the year, as well as “the phasing of strategic initiatives investments”.

It anticipated stronger momentum in the second half of the year, despite ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainties, supported by a substantial product order backlog.

Computacenter spent £6m more than in the same period of 2023, but kept its expectation for full-year investment unchanged at £28-30m.

The firm announced that it will return £200m to shareholders via a share buyback programme. It will repurchase up to 11.4m shares, it said.

The programme will run until June 30 next year, and will be managed by JP Morgan Securities.

After soaring nearly 50 per cent in 2023, shares in the company dipped in March and have fallen by nearly 5 per cent in the year to date.

It fell by nearly two per cent in early trades.