Computacenter shares plunge by 20pc as revenue growth slips
IT outsourcing company Computacenter lost a fifth of its market value on Wednesday after revenues slipped 3pc in the third quarter to £900m.
The FTSE 250 company, headquartered in Hatfield, told investors that revenue has fallen due to “significantly more challenging” conditions making "growth more difficult”.
Computacenter manages IT functions for companies, including cloud and security. It also helps companies manage tools like Amazon's AWS and Microsoft Azure and recently became one of the first UK companies selling VMware Cloud.
Shares in the firm dropped almost 20pc on the slow trading update to a low of 1002p, but the company expects performance in the final three months of the year to pick up.
“Our expectation for the fourth quarter is for improved growth before acquisitions but not to the levels seen in the first half of the year," it said.
The firm's share price is up 10pc so far this year. However in July Barclays downgraded Computacenter's growth forecast after its results for the first six months of 2018.
In a note to investors, Barclays said: "There will continue to be some questioning over the UK services trends, the most important part of the business."
UK revenue fell by 9pc overall for the third quarter to £296m, down from £326m the previous year. Computacenter said year-to-date UK turnover was up 17pc.
Computacenter last year reported more than £3bn in revenue. It employs 14,500 across its group.
