Press Release

RNS Number:3556L 
Computacenter PLC 
09 January 2008 
 
 
                               Computacenter plc 
 
                            Pre-Close Trading Update 
 
 
Computacenter is today holding an Investor and Analyst conference call to 
provide an update on trading for the year ended 31 December 2007. 
 
 
Group profit before tax for 2007 is expected to be marginally ahead of consensus 
market expectations of £41.2 million. Net borrowings at the end of the period 
prior to customer specific finances are expected to be circa £30 million. This 
is after the effect of £35 million spent on acquisitions and £12 million on the 
repurchase of our shares during the period. Arrangements are being put in place 
to enable the share buy back programme to continue during the closed period. 
 
 
In the UK, prior to the effect of acquisitions, the second half performance 
improved compared to last year and to the first half of 2007. Product sales grew 
for the first time in a number of years despite continued decline in the price 
of technology. This was aided by strong gains in market share in the datacentre 
arena, winning some new major contracts particularly towards the end of the year 
and the effects of some customers moving away from the direct model. In the 
second half of 2007 we had a number of new contractual services wins and 
extensions, which enabled us to fully recover from previously reported lost 
contracts. We enter 2008 with a stronger contract base than we started 2007. 
Digica, which was acquired at the beginning of 2007, performed in line with 
management's expectations in the second half of the year. 
 
 
As expected, Computacenter Germany continued to perform well with profits 
reaching a new high in 2007. Overall, revenue remained strong in both products 
and services and we saw a modest improvement in the services margins towards the 
backend of the year. Fourth quarter revenue was not as strong as the comparable 
period last year, which was an exceptional performance driven by the VAT rate 
changes in Germany. 
 
 
Computacenter France performed ahead of expectations for the year, recording a 
small profit in the second half of 2007 although it recorded a small loss for 
the year as a whole. Due to competitive pressure we have seen a reduction in 
revenue in France particularly from large product deals in the fourth quarter. 
However, much progress has been made in stabilising our French business in 2007 
with reductions in the cost base, improvements in margin and increases in 
services revenue. 
 
 
Computacenter will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 
December 2007 on Tuesday, 11 March 2008. 
 
 
 
Enquiries: 
 
 
Computacenter plc 
 
Mike Norris, Chief Executive 01707 631601 
 
Tony Conophy, Finance Director 01707 631515 
 
Tessa Freeman, PR Manager 01707 631514 
 
 
Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200 
 
Andrew Grant 
 
Stephen Malthouse 
 
 
 
                      This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
 
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