Computacenter confident about business in 2009

Norris: Growth in managed services division set to continue

Despite a profit drop in 2008, IT services firm Computacenter expects to gain from increased demand from outsourcing services in the UK.

The firm saw its pre-tax profit slide by six per cent to £39.5m from £42.1m in 2007, mainly due to impairment losses in France and in the UK, where its Digica brand was terminated.

But Computacenter is upbeat about the opportunities in its UK services division for 2009 as companies aim to reduce IT-related costs, and the services group has already registered a 10 per cent growth in new contract wins over the first quarter of this year.

Contracts won include the extension of a managed services deal with Marks & Spencer, which is currently carrying out a complete IT transformation.

"Computacenter delivered a strong performance for 2008 and laid the foundations for an encouraging future," said the firm's chief executive Mike Norris.

"The current economic conditions are undoubtedly affecting the markets in which we operate, but we can, and do, help businesses reduce costs and become more competitive, which makes our managed services offerings more compelling, as our recent contract base growth illustrates.

"We expect this growth to continue at a similar pace throughout the year, though our product revenues are under pressure."