Computacenter Share News (CCC)

(Alliance News) - Computacenter PLC warned on Thursday that customers may start suspending IT projects amid the uncertainty caused by the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Shares were 7.7% lower on Thursday morning in London at a price of 1,350.00 pence each.

In a January trading update, Computacenter had said 2019 was one of its most successful years ever.

The computer services firm said Thursday it is too early to predict the outcome for 2020. While it thinks customers will continue to invest, the rates of growth achieved in recent years are going to be difficult to repeat.

Covid-19 compounds this, Computacenter, continued, though it did note there has been minimal supply constraint so far.

"We do however have some concerns that in the medium-term, customers may postpone significant IT infrastructure projects while the current uncertainty remains," said Computacenter.

In 2019, Computacenter reported Thursday that revenue increased by 16% to GBP5.05 billion, significantly helped by acquisitions.

Pretax profit increased by 30% to GBP141.0 million, while the adjusted pretax profit figure was 24% higher at GBP146.3 million.

Computacenter is proposing a final dividend of 26.9p per share, which would take the total for 2019 to 37.0p, meaning a 22% rise year-on-year.

Performance in France was "excellent", Computacenter said, with revenue growth of 16% to EUR644.7 million. Germany also did well, delivering reported revenue growth of 5.2% to EUR2.23 billion despite a major customer cutting expenditure significantly.

Revenue in the UK fell 1.8% to GBP1.58 billion, though this was due to 2018 including two "very large" contracts. In the US, revenue nearly trebled to USD986.6 million due to an acquisition in late 2018.

By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com

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