Computacenter sales growth accelerates

LONDON, UK: British IT firm Computacenter said revenue growth accelerated in the third quarter helped by new contracts to manage its customers' IT services, keeping it on track to meet its own expectations for the year.

The company, which also supplies equipment, said on Friday that revenue grew 13 per cent to 621 million pounds ($993 million) in the three months to end-September, better than the 5.4 per cent recorded in the first half.

Analysts at Credit Suisse said in a note that the quarter was significantly ahead of its expectations, driven by the performance in the UK.

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Computacenter said stronger demand from the private sector, particularly in financial services, more than compensated for cuts in government spending in the UK, and it was also pleased with the performance of its German division.

It said growth in the fourth quarter, its biggest, was unlikely to be as strong because of a tougher year-on-year comparison, but growth in services was expected to continue at a similar rate as the year to date.

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"The results to date makes us confident that we are on track to deliver on our expectations for 2010," it said in a statement.

Analysts expect Computacenter, which counts Lloyds Banking Group and grocer Morrisons among its customers, to post a 25 per cent rise in pretax profit of 60.6 million pounds for the year, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll.