SMALL BUT BEAUTIFUL: Computacenter to top forecasts as it pulls plug on PCs

COMPUTACENTER, the IT services firm, expects its full-year adjusted pre-tax profit to be above market forecasts of £38.1 million, after increased sales of higher-margin services.

Sales in the UK for the year to the end of December grew 2.5 per cent to 1.39 billion, boosted by customers using the company's services to reduce costs, it said in a trading update yesterday.

The computer hardware and services supplier said it made good progress in Germany, particularly in improving margins. Revenue was up 1 per cent, which translated to 18 per cent growth in sterling terms.

The company said France performed better than in 2007, but much remained to be done to deliver a acceptable level of profit in the country.

Following a group review, Computacenter said it would stop the trade distribution of personal computers and printers and focus on its server and storage distribution business, which had higher margins.

The change would reduce 2009 sales by about 70m, but would not reduce operating profit and would free up about 35m of working capital.

Computacenter has a market cap of about 140m.