Trading Statement

19 Jan 2006 07:00

Computacenter PLC19 January 2006 For immediate release 19 January 2006 Computacenter plc Termination of offer discussions and Update on trading Computacenter plc announced, on 18 November 2005, that it had entered intopreliminary discussions relating to a possible offer for the Company from agroup led by Sir Peter Ogden and including Computacenter's executive management.The Company announces today that these discussions have not progressed to anoffer and have now terminated. Computacenter is today providing an update on trading for the year ended 31December 2005. Group profit before tax for 2005 is expected to be in the rangeof £32-34 million, materially ahead of market expectations, due to unusuallystrong demand from customers at the year-end. Cash generation was adverselyimpacted by the higher than expected sales in December which increased the levelof working capital required at the year-end. In the UK, trading in the third quarter of the year was slow, but improved inthe fourth quarter and was particularly strong in the latter part of December.As in 2004, the substantial increase in product revenue in the final days of theyear is primarily related to sales of enterprise-type products and software asopposed to personal computers. UK service revenues were broadly the same as lastyear, with a modest increase in Managed Services revenues, offset by a reductionin Professional Services revenues. In Germany, trading in both the third and fourth quarters was encouraging. In France, performance in the second half improved substantially over the firsthalf, as anticipated, such that full year revenues were broadly flat on 2004,despite being 14% down at the interims. As in the UK, trading in the latter partof December was very strong, in particular with Government institutions. Computacenter will announce its preliminary results for the year ending 31December 2005 on Tuesday, 14 March 2006. Enquiries: Computacenter plcMike Norris, Chief Executive 01707 631601Tony Conophy, Finance Director 01707 631515 HSBC Bank plcRupert Faure Walker (financial adviser) 020 7992 2101Nick Donald (corporate broker) 020 7992 2151 Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200Andrew GrantJulie Foster HSBC Bank plc, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by the FinancialServices Authority, is acting for Computacenter plc and no one else in relationto maters described in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyoneother than Computacenter plc for providing the protections afforded to customersof HSBC Bank plc or for providing advice on matters described in thisannouncement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange