RNS Number:6047I
Computacenter PLC
12 March 2003
COMPUTACENTER PLC
Preliminary Results Announcement
Computacenter plc, the IT infrastructure services provider, today announces
preliminary results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2002.
Financial Highlights:
* Profit before tax* up 6% to #54.2 million (2001: #51.1 million), ahead of
market expectations
* Profit before tax up 58% to #55.1 million (2001: #34.9 million)
* Turnover declined to #1.93 billion (2001: #2.09 billion)
* Strong closing net cash position of #83.4 million (2001: #53.3 million)
* Diluted earnings per share* of 19.3p (2001:17.9p)
* Final dividend doubled to 5.8p per share (2001: 2.9p)
* excluding non-operating exceptional items
Operational Highlights:
* Delivering on strategic thrust of building our services businesses: UK
managed services revenue growth of 16% and professional services growth of
13%
* Acquisition of GE CompuNet in Germany and GECITS Austria to create leading
positions in European markets
* Tight control of costs and staff utilisation levels
Ron Sandler, Chairman of Computacenter plc, commented:
"Computacenter made excellent progress in 2002. Against a background of subdued
markets for corporate IT expenditure, the Group delivered good profit growth,
despite lower revenues. Our confidence in the business is reflected in the
decision to double the dividend.
"We are now beginning to see evidence of real progress in the services side of
the business, which has been our strategic focus in recent years. In November
2002, we announced the acquisition of GE CompuNet, giving Computacenter an
unrivalled position of leadership in the three largest European economies.
"Whilst it is too early to predict performance in 2003, we believe that
Computacenter is well positioned to produce profit growth over 2002."
For further information, please contact:
Computacenter plc.
Mike Norris, Chief Executive 01707 631 601
Tessa Freeman, Investor Relations 01707 631 514
www.computacenter.com
Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200
Julie Foster/ Tim Lynch
www.tulchangroup.com
Chairman's Statement
Computacenter made excellent progress in 2002. Against a background of subdued
markets for corporate IT expenditure, the Group delivered good profit growth,
despite lower revenues. This result demonstrates Computacenter's effectiveness
in controlling costs and maintaining high levels of staff utilisation. It also
reflects the considerable investment in recent years to develop our services
capabilities, the fruits of which were clearly evident in the course of the
year.
The difficult trading conditions encountered in the second quarter of 2001
persisted throughout 2002, and Computacenter's revenues declined by 8.0% to #1.9
billion. However, profit before tax, excluding non-operating exceptional items,
grew to #54.2 million (2001: #51.1 million), and to #55.1 million (2001: #34.9
million) including non-operating exceptional items. Diluted earnings per share,
excluding non-operating exceptional items, were 19.3p (2001: 17.9p).
The Group continued to generate cash, with net funds at the year-end of #83.4
million (2001: #53.3 million). In November, Computacenter repaid the outstanding
balance of #38.3 million of the 1995 bond, and we now have no long-term
borrowings. During the year Computacenter purchased 2,005,000 of its own shares
for cancellation at a total cost of #4.6 million.
I am pleased to recommend a doubling of the final dividend to 5.8p per share
(2001: 2.9p), at which level the dividend cover would be 3.5 times. The Board
recently reviewed its dividend policy and concluded that, given the strong cash
position and likely future cash generative characteristics of Computacenter,
such an increase was warranted. Looking ahead, it would be the Board's intention
to maintain dividend cover at broadly this level. The dividend will be paid on
30 May 2003 to shareholders on the register as at 2 May 2003.
Computacenter's management deserves considerable credit for the Group's
performance in 2002. Overheads in the business were tightly controlled,
particularly in the UK where indirect headcount was reduced by more than 230
over the course of the year. This was achieved without recourse to any
exceptional charges. The introduction of new systems and disciplines ensured
that professional services staff utilisation levels were high throughout 2002.
For several years, the principal thrust of Computacenter's strategy has been to
develop the services side of the business to complement the core product
logistics activities. We are now beginning to see evidence of real progress
here. In the UK, managed services and professional services revenues grew by
16.4% and 13.0% respectively, and both activities contributed significantly to
the overall financial performance. Unquestionably, the highlight of the year in
managed services was the award of the BT desktop outsource, a five year contract
covering over 100,000 seats which is understood to be the largest desktop
outsourcing contract ever awarded in Europe. This is a major achievement for the
Group, and testifies to the expertise and credibility that we have developed in
this area.
The progress that Computacenter is making towards becoming a fully integrated
infrastructure services provider is clearly evident. We continue to invest
significantly in services development, and in enhancing our tool suite and
technologies to support the services offerings. A considerable effort has also
been made to upgrade the skills and improve the processes within the
organisation to ensure consistent, effective and profitable services delivery.
As a result of these developments, Computacenter in 2002 was able to undertake
services contracts of increasing scope and complexity. With the demand for
services, particularly of an outsourcing nature, forecast to remain strong, we
remain confident in our chosen strategy and our ability to implement it.
Computacenter's performance in France was somewhat disappointing. Although
revenues grew strongly by 20.7%, operating profit declined to #2.4 million
(2001: #6.4 million), after the release of negative goodwill largely reflecting
the challenges of integrating the GE Capital IT Solutions (GECITS) business in
France, acquired in February 2002. We are making good progress with the
integration and, looking ahead, we anticipate an improvement in the
profitability of Computacenter France.
In November, we announced the proposed acquisition of GE CompuNet in Germany and
GECITS Austria for a consideration of #36.5 million, with a further payment of
up to #41.0 million in 2005 subject to the achievement of certain profit
performance targets. Both transactions were completed in early January 2003.
These acquisitions, and particularly that of GE CompuNet (now renamed CC
CompuNet), are of major strategic significance to Computacenter. We are now the
market leader in the UK and Germany, and number two in France, an unrivalled
position in the three largest European economies. We see a growing trend towards
pan-Europeanism in the IT infrastructure market, particularly as regards vendor
behaviour and an increasing harmonisation of market structures and practices.
Whilst a truly integrated pan-European market is still some way off,
Computacenter is now extremely well positioned to benefit from this trend. We
are already beginning to exploit opportunities to share best practices and
resources across our European network.
Whilst it is too early to predict performance in 2003, we believe that
Computacenter is well positioned to produce profit growth over 2002.
Computacenter's performance rests, as always, on the efforts and capabilities of
our staff. A devotion to customer service is central to our success, and we are
fortunate to have an organisation of employees who demonstrate this attribute
time and again. I offer my thanks to all Computacenter staff for their
enthusiasm, commitment and hard work.
Chief Executive's Review
UK
The desire of customers to improve the cost effectiveness of their IT management
helped drive Computacenter's managed services growth in the UK, where our
contract base grew 38.6%, compared with 19.9% in 2001.
As a result of winning the BT desktop services contract early in the year, some
350 former BT staff transferred to Computacenter under TUPE regulations. The
award of this contract reflects the investment we have made in developing our
outsourcing capabilities. We are continuing to pursue a strategy of growth in
our managed services activities to achieve economies of scale, raise barriers to
entry and secure our competitive advantage.
Additionally, in 2002 we won major managed service contracts with BAA and Hays.
For BAA we will provide HP technology, together with hardware support and the
management of moves and changes. The five-year contract covers approximately
10,000 seats, mostly at Gatwick and Heathrow airports. Our three-year contract
with Hays includes technology supply, hardware support and technical
consultancy.
Other managed services successes included wins at HBOS, the UK Government's
Environment Agency, JPMorgan Chase and North Yorkshire County Council, as well
as contract extensions with such customers as Thus and Scottish Power.
To support our managed services growth, we continued to invest in the
development of tools and processes, in particular the integrated Services
Management Tool Suite (SMTS) that we use to track and manage user support
requests. By deploying one or more SMTS components we have been able to improve
service levels for many of our customers. A related investment has enabled us to
streamline national handling of our customers' support calls, with e-mails and
phone enquiries automatically routed to the analyst with the most appropriate
skills or experience. By integrating this system with SMTS, we are confident in
our ability to further improve service levels and drive down costs.
Hardware support services were an important focus in 2002. In the course of the
year, we reengineered our maintenance services to deliver greater efficiency,
which contributed to a growth rate of 38.8% in our maintenance contract base
during the year. Successes included Cazenove, Royal Mail and the UK Atomic
Energy Authority. Our pricing of support services incorporates the considerable
body of information on relative failure rates that Computacenter has accumulated
over many years of supporting a wide range of hardware, and this represents a
significant source of competitive advantage.
Partly due to our continuing focus on improving internal processes and
accountability, we saw higher professional services utilisation rates and a
growth in professional services billing throughout 2002. This led to a
professional services revenue growth of 13.0% over the previous year.
The increased adoption of the latest Microsoft technology by large organisations
led to a number of major infrastructure standardisation projects. For example,
we deployed a standard Microsoft Windows XP desktop environment for
ChevronTexaco, as part of a major global upgrade of its IT infrastructure, and
migrated 6,000 users and 500 servers at Nationwide Building Society to Windows
2000. In the Government sector, we implemented a Windows 2000 desktop project
roll-out for a new hospital with Swindon & Marlborough NHS Trust, for whom we
will also provide hardware maintenance and other support services over a
potential twelve-year term.
We were also awarded a three-year support contract for Nationwide's Sun
enterprise servers, delivered a new IT infrastructure for the Greater London
Authority (GLA) and won a contract for the design, build and implementation of a
new Windows 2000 office deployment for Orange UK.
The opening of our Solutions Centre in early 2002 was an important development
for Computacenter, allowing our customers to test their choice of technology
before purchase, or verify the performance and scalability of new applications
before deployment.
Market pressure was most evident in the product supply side of our business.
Whilst product sales fared better throughout 2002 compared to the second half of
2001, we saw an overall year-on-year decline. Performance differed considerably
across sectors. Throughout the year, sales to Government departments continued
to grow, whilst financial services revenues continued to decline, particularly
in investment banking. As our financial services business has a higher
proportion of enterprise products and more demanding service levels, this change
in mix had an overall adverse effect on UK margins.
Increased capacity at our Hatfield Operations Centre allowed us to expand the
range of services we offer and the technologies we support. For example,
Computacenter won a major technology refresh contract to support NCR's delivery
of new point-of-sale devices to a large high street retailer. The contract
includes survey, storage, build and installation services, together with the
preparation and installation of over 1,500 back-end servers.
A significant development in our product resale business over the longer term
was the merger, in May, of Compaq and HP, two of our major vendor partners.
Computacenter is the UK market leader in Compaq products and we were pleased to
see our share of their business grow still further in 2002. We were also pleased
to see the merged HP organisation win increased UK market share in Q4 2002. In
view of our mutual reliance, we are working closely with the new HP management
on forging the way ahead for our partnership. One early consequence of the
merger is that Computacenter's historical Compaq volume has now moved to HP's
payment terms, which substantially reduces credit days in return for early
payment discounts.
Our recycling and re-marketing arm, RDC, continued to respond to our customers'
growing need for the effective management of end-of-life IT equipment. In April,
the company won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation for its unique
service model, which provides organisations with a better return from their
unwanted equipment and maximises the potential for recycling. RDC achieved an
overall 58% increase in service revenues over the previous year.
CCD, our trade distribution business offering products and logistics services to
resellers, maintained revenues comparable to the previous year, despite
continuing market pressure. The business again retained leading market share
with several major vendors, and we were only the second organisation in the UK
to be appointed as an authorised HP-UX distributor by HP.
In 2002 Computacenter opened new UK offices in Newcastle and Belfast, with the
aim of widening our national coverage and providing improved support to local
offices of our larger managed services customers.
International
In November, we announced our intention to acquire GE CompuNet in Germany and GE
Capital IT Solutions Austria. These transactions were subsequently completed on
2 January 2003, and both companies are now wholly owned subsidiaries of
Computacenter.
GE CompuNet (now CC CompuNet) has a strong services element in its portfolio,
which supports our strategy of growing our services base and building contracted
revenue streams. Whilst both GE CompuNet and GECITS Austria (now Computacenter
Austria) are fundamentally sound businesses, we are confident that they will
benefit considerably from the application of Computacenter's experience.
These transactions give Computacenter leading positions in Europe's three
largest markets and a stronger pan-European positioning with HP and other key
vendors. The combined businesses are able to share certain investments and best
practices, and to develop common processes to improve the scope, quality and
cost-effectiveness of their offerings.
We believe the acquisitions will be marginally earnings enhancing in 2003 and
will create shareholder value in the long-term.
France
Assisted by acquisition, our French operation saw 20.7% sales growth during
2002. However profit performance was disappointing, reflecting difficult market
conditions and the costs of integrating the GECITS business following its
acquisition in February 2002.
Service revenues grew 80.6% compared with the previous year and we won some
significant new customers, including Ministere des Finances, Valeo and l'Oreal.
The acquisition of the GECITS business involved the transfer of some 350
employees and brought with it several major new accounts including Eurotunnel
and Renault France Automobiles. As the business was loss-making on acquisition,
the Group received a payment to assist in the financing and development of the
operation. The costs of restructuring amounted to #3.2 million during the year,
offset by a release of #3.7 million negative goodwill to operating profit.
BeLux
Our results in Belgium and Luxembourg (BeLux) improved modestly in 2002 despite
a decline in corporate spending adversely affecting our business, with product
sales particularly affected in the first half. The second half showed an
improvement, due to some major customer wins. These included Bridgestone Europe
and Amcor, who selected Computacenter for a pan-European e-procurement service
with centralised reporting.
We also won some major technology refresh projects, including Citibank Belgium,
significant contract extensions for project and support services at Nestle and
UCB, and new CRM application roll-out projects with Carlsberg Importers and
Schneider Electric subsidiaries.
Biomni
After performing ahead of budget in the first half of the year, our e-commerce
joint venture, Biomni, saw a decline in spending on e-procurement applications
in the second half.
Although Biomni has performed creditably against its competition, the market for
e-procurement services has not grown in line with expectations. Consequently,
Biomni has concentrated upon extending its offering into the managed services
provider (MSP) marketplace, where the company has identified significant
business opportunities. Computacenter will assume greater control over some of
the e-commerce activities that have historically been managed on its behalf by
Biomni, including CC Connect, through which customers can order products and
services from Computacenter over the internet. Biomni continues to be a
strategic supplier to Computacenter, and our 50% investment stake is unchanged.
Computacenter's share of Biomni's loss reduced to #1.3 million (2001: #2.2
million).
Organisation
Throughout 2002 we maintained our focus on programmes designed to reduce our
cost base and to leverage our resources more effectively. As a result, over the
second half of the year, we achieved a 11.5% reduction in sales, general and
administration (SG&A) costs to the UK business compared with the second half of
2001. Successful initiatives included the merger of our Retail Finance and City
sectors into a single Financial Services operation, reflecting the smaller
proportion of our revenues arising from investment banking and insurance. We
continued to operate tight cash management disciplines and were successful in
our efforts to maintain high levels of professional services utilisation.
We believe corporate and government organisations will continue to look to
Computacenter to reduce their IT infrastructure costs and are confident that
this, together with our focus on tightly controlled and effective operations,
provides a sound platform for the future.
GROUP PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
For the year ended 31 December 2002
2002 2001
Note #'000 #'000
TURNOVER
Turnover: Group and share of joint venture's turnover 1,930,135 2,097,224
Less: share of joint venture's turnover (3,398) (3,801)
Continuing Operations 1,926,737 2,030,803
Discontinued operations - 62,620
GROUP TURNOVER 2 1,926,737 2,093,423
OPERATING COSTS 3 (1,870,570) (2,038,340)
OPERATING PROFIT
Continuing operations 56,167 59,608
Discontinued operations - (4,525)
GROUP OPERATING PROFIT 56,167 55,083
Share of operating loss in joint venture (1,272) (2,174)
Share of operating loss in associate (13) (67)
TOTAL OPERATING PROFIT: GROUP AND SHARE OF ASSOCIATE 54,882 52,842
AND JOINT VENTURE
Release of provisions related to/(loss on) termination 863 (16,213)
of operations
PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES BEFORE INTEREST AND 55,745 36,629
TAXATION
Interest receivable and similar income 7,367 7,815
Interest payable and similar charges (8,031) (9,544)
PROFIT ON ORDINARY 55,081 34,900
ACTIVITES BEFORE TAXATION
Tax on profit on ordinary activities 4 (18,074) (15,799)
PROFIT ON ORDINARY 37,007 19,101
ACTIVITIES AFTER TAXATION
Minority interests - equity 25 (43)
PROFIT ATTRIBUTABLE TO MEMBERS OF THE PARENT COMPANY 37,032 19,058
Dividends - ordinary dividends on equity shares 5 (10,657) (5,435)
RETAINED PROFIT FOR THE YEAR 26,375 13,623
Earnings per share
- Basic 6 20.4p 10.5p
- Diluted 6 19.8p 9.9p
Diluted(excluding effect of non operating exceptional
items) 19.3p 17.9p
Dividends per ordinary share 5.8p 2.9p
GROUP STATEMENT OF TOTAL RECOGNISED GAINS AND LOSSES
For the year ended 31 December 2002
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
Profit for the financial year excluding share of 37,978 20,647
joint venture and associate
Share of joint venture's loss for the year (933) (1,522)
Share of associate's loss for the year (13) (67)
Profit attributable to members of the parent
company for the financial year 37,032 19,058
Exchange differences on retranslation of net
assets of associated and subsidiary undertakings 1,238 254
Total recognised gains for the year 38,270 19,312
GROUP BALANCE SHEET
at 31 December 2002
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
FIXED ASSETS
Intangible assets
Positive goodwill 5,039 7,957
Negative goodwill (4,793) -
246 7,957
Tangible assets 96,733 103,523
Investments 12,366 13,531
109,345 125,011
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks 95,742 95,385
Debtors 286,882 295,837
Cash at bank and in hand 92,072 109,665
474,696 500,887
CREDITORS: amounts falling due
within one year (328,522) (395,695)
NET CURRENT ASSETS 146,174 105,192
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 255,519 230,203
CREDITORS: amounts falling due after more than one
year (1,613) (2,006)
PROVISION FOR JOINT VENTURE DEFICIT
Share of gross assets 943 3,380
Share of gross liabilities (7,834) (7,370)
(6,891) (3,990)
PROVISION FOR LIABILITIES (1,743) (2,189)
AND CHARGES
TOTAL ASSETS LESS LIABILITIES 245,272 222,018
CAPITAL AND RESERVES
Called up share capital 9,237 9,281
Share premium account 69,004 68,710
Capital Redemption Reserve 100 -
Profit and loss account 166,792 143,825
Shareholders' funds - equity 245,133 221,816
Minority interests - equity 139 202
245,272 222,018
Approved by the Board on 11 March 2003
MJ Norris Chief Executive
FA Conophy Finance Director
GROUP STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
For the year ended 31 December 2002
2002 2001
Note #'000 #'000
CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 7 60,614 86,576
RETURNS ON INVESTMENTS AND SERVICING OF FINANCE (468) (1,515)
TAXATION
Corporation tax paid (17,485) (17,770)
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE AND FINANCIAL INVESTMENT (9,097) (18,687)
ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSALS 7,559 (4,437)
EQUITY DIVIDENDS PAID (5,324) (5,294)
CASH INFLOW BEFORE FINANCING 35,799 38,873
FINANCING (43,083) (278)
DECREASE)/INCREASE IN CASH (7,284) 38,595
IN THE YEAR
GROUP STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
For the year ended 31 December 2002
RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN NET FUNDS
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
Net funds at 1 January 2002 53,287 13,407
(Decrease)/increase in cash in the year (7,284) 38,595
Cash outflow from repayment of debt and lease
finance 38,787 1,500
Change in net cash resulting from cash flows 84,790 53,502
New finance leases (1,164) -
Amortisation of debt issue costs (196) (215)
Net funds at 31 December 2002 83,430 53,287
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL INFORMATION
1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of preparation
The preliminary announcement has been prepared on the basis of the
accounting policies set out in the most recently published financial statements
of the Group for the period ended 31 December 2001, with the exception of the
implementation of FRS 19 "Deferred Tax". During the year ended 31 December 2002
the Group implemented FRS 19 "Deferred Tax", requires full provision for
deferred tax. The results of the Group are unchanged as a result of implementing
this standard.
The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost
convention and in accordance with applicable accounting standards.
2 TURNOVER AND SEGMENTAL ANALYSIS
The Group operates in one principal activity, that of the provision of
distributed information technology and related services. Turnover represents the
amounts derived from the provision of goods and services which fall within the
Group's ordinary activities, stated net of VAT.
An analysis of turnover by destination and origin, operating profit/
(loss) and net assets/(liabilities) is given below:
Turnover by Destination 2002 2001
#'000 #'000
UK
Continuing 1,584,471 1,744,226
Discontinued - 54
Total 1,584,471 1,744,280
France 313,797 267,157
Belgium & Luxembourg 11,560 13,608
Germany - continuing 4,503 323
Germany - discontinued - 62,566
Rest of the World 12,406 5,489
Total 1,926,737 2,093,423
Turnover by Origin 2002 2001
#'000 #'000
UK
Continuing 1,597,344 1,753,999
Discontinued - 54
Total 1,597,344 1,754,053
France 316,773 262,460
Belgium & Luxembourg 12,620 14,344
Germany - discontinued - 62,566
Total 1,926,737 2,093,423
Operating Profit/(Loss) 2002 2001
#'000 #'000
UK
Continuing 57,642 54,438
Discontinued - (3,105)
Total 57,642 51,333
France 2,389 6,381
Belgium & Luxembourg (3,864) (1,211)
Germany - discontinued - (1,420)
Total Group excluding associate & joint venture 56,167 55,083
undertaking
Share of operating result of associate and joint (1,285) (2,241)
venture undertaking
Total operating profit 54,882 52,842
Net Assets/(Liabilities) Employed
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
UK 183,346 182,257
France 10,400 12,079
Belgium & Luxembourg (4,426) 67
Germany (588) (6,449)
Subtotal 188,732 187,954
Net Assets of associated undertaking
UK 46 8
Rest of the world 62 150
Net assets employed 188,840 188,112
Net funds 83,430 53,288
Net operating assets 272,270 241,400
Non-operating liabilities (26,998) (19,382)
Net assets 245,272 222,018
3 OPERATING COSTS
2002 2001 2001 2001
All continuing Continuing Discontinued Total
#'000 #'000 #'000 #'000
(Increase)/decrease in (357) 19,029 4,789 23,818
stocks of finished goods
Goods for resale and 1,484,202 1,570,346 45,446 1,615,792
consumables
Staff costs (note 6) 227,175 222,090 10,533 232,623
Depreciation and other
amounts written off
tangible and intangible
assets 16,758 16,993 1,183 18,176
Other operating charges 142,792 142,737 5,194 147,931
1,870,570 1,971,195 67,145 2,038,340
4 TAX ON PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITES
The charge based on the profit for the year comprises:
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
UK Corporation tax * 20,021 15,681
Adjustment relating to prior years (1,197) -
18,824 15,681
Foreign 35 564
Group current tax 18,859 16,245
Share of joint venture's tax (339) (652)
Total current tax 18,520 15,593
Deferred tax
Origination and reversal of timing
differences (504) 206
Adjustment relating to prior year 58 -
Group deferred tax (446) 206
Tax on profit on ordinary activities 18,074 15,799
* Includes a tax credit of # nil (2001: #930,000) relating to the effect of
non-operating exceptional items
Factors affecting the current tax charge
The tax charge for the year is higher than the standard rate of Corporation Tax
in the UK (30%). The principal reasons for this difference are set out below:
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
Total profit before taxation 55,081 34,900
At 30% 16,524 10,470
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes 487 739
Funding to overseas entity not deductible
for tax purposes - 924
Goodwill amortised (984) 99
Impairment of goodwill 870 -
Goodwill reinstated on disposal - 793
Accounting depreciation in excess of tax
depreciation (137) 12
Amount provided against investments 558 -
Profits of overseas undertakings not
taxable due to brought forward loss offset - (669)
Losses of overseas undertakings not
available for relief 1,202 3,225
Current tax charge 18,520 15,593
5 DIVIDENDS
The Directors recommend the payment of a dividend of 5.8p per share (2001: 2.9p
per share), representing an aggregate charge of #10,657,000 (2001: #5,435,000).
The Computacenter ESOP trust has waived the dividends payable in respect of
1,427,042 (2001: 1,427,042) ordinary shares that it owns which are not allocated
to employees. The Computacenter Trustees Limited have waived dividends in
respect of 457,796 (2001:461,011) shares which it owns which are not allocated
to employees and the Computacenter Quest ("Qualifying Employee Scheme Trust")
has similarly waived dividends in respect of 1,102,266 (2001:1,109,143) shares
that it owns.
6 EARNINGS PER SHARE
The calculation of earnings per ordinary share is based on profit attributable
to members of the holding Company of #37,032,000 (2001: #19,058,000) and on
181,622,000 (2001: 181,252,000) ordinary shares, being the weighted average
number of ordinary shares in issue during the year after excluding the shares
owned by the Computacenter Employee Share Trust, Computacenter Trustees Limited
and the Computacenter Quest.
The diluted earnings per share is based on the same earnings figure of
#37,032,000 (2001: #19,058,000) and on 186,632,000 (2001: 191,928,000) ordinary
shares, calculated as the basic weighted average number of ordinary shares, plus
5,010,000 (2001: 10,676,000) dilutive share options.
7 RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING PROFIT TO OPERATING CASH FLOWS
2002 2001
#'000 #'000
Operating profit 56,167 55,083
Depreciation 17,138 17,847
Impairment of listed investment 1,865 2,099
Amortisation of positive goodwill 449 329
Impairment of positive goodwill 2,899 -
Amortisation of negative goodwill (3,728) -
Loss on disposal of fixed assets 110 836
Termination of UK operation - iGroup - (2,531)
Decrease in debtors 8,955 42,983
(Increase)/decrease in stocks (282) 24,059
Decrease in creditors (23,708) (54,755)
Currency and other adjustments 749 626
Net cash inflow from operating activities 60,614 86,576
8 PUBLICATION OF NON STATUTORY ACCOUNTS
The financial information contained in this preliminary statement does not
constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 240 of the Companies Act
1985. The financial information set out in this announcement is extracted from
the full Group financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2002, the
auditor's report on which has yet to be signed.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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