Pre-close Trading Statement

Computacenter PLC 09 January 2008 Computacenter plc Pre-Close Trading Update Computacenter is today holding an Investor and Analyst conference call to provide an update on trading for the year ended 31 December 2007. Group profit before tax for 2007 is expected to be marginally ahead of consensus market expectations of £41.2 million. Net borrowings at the end of the period prior to customer specific finances are expected to be circa £30 million. This is after the effect of £35 million spent on acquisitions and £12 million on the repurchase of our shares during the period. Arrangements are being put in place to enable the share buy back programme to continue during the closed period. In the UK, prior to the effect of acquisitions, the second half performance improved compared to last year and to the first half of 2007. Product sales grew for the first time in a number of years despite continued decline in the price of technology. This was aided by strong gains in market share in the datacentre arena, winning some new major contracts particularly towards the end of the year and the effects of some customers moving away from the direct model. In the second half of 2007 we had a number of new contractual services wins and extensions, which enabled us to fully recover from previously reported lost contracts. We enter 2008 with a stronger contract base than we started 2007. Digica, which was acquired at the beginning of 2007, performed in line with management's expectations in the second half of the year. As expected, Computacenter Germany continued to perform well with profits reaching a new high in 2007. Overall, revenue remained strong in both products and services and we saw a modest improvement in the services margins towards the backend of the year. Fourth quarter revenue was not as strong as the comparable period last year, which was an exceptional performance driven by the VAT rate changes in Germany. Computacenter France performed ahead of expectations for the year, recording a small profit in the second half of 2007 although it recorded a small loss for the year as a whole. Due to competitive pressure we have seen a reduction in revenue in France particularly from large product deals in the fourth quarter. However, much progress has been made in stabilising our French business in 2007 with reductions in the cost base, improvements in margin and increases in services revenue. Computacenter will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2007 on Tuesday, 11 March 2008. Enquiries: Computacenter plc Mike Norris, Chief Executive 01707 631601 Tony Conophy, Finance Director 01707 631515 Tessa Freeman, PR Manager 01707 631514 Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200 Andrew Grant Stephen Malthouse This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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