Softcat’s share price went up over 16% on news of a 10% increase in sales for the first half ending 31 January.
Turnover reached £577m in a mixed of figures when breaking down the segments. Hardware sales grew 32.2% to £289m, but software turnover dropped 5.1% to £240m. In addition, services revenue at the VAR slumped 9% to £47.7m.
The operating profit jumped 41% to £57m, and earnings per share rose 39.5% to 23.3 pence. The pandemic created areas of growth in security, the management of distributed workforces and hybrid cloud infrastructures.
In the period, the customer base rose 1.5% and staff numbers also grew 12% to 1,658. The company said the second half had “begun well”, and it is “confident” Softcat will deliver a full year result “significantly ahead of its previous expectations”.
Graeme Watt (pictured), Softcat CEO, said: “We continued to grow and take share in a market that has remained relatively resilient during the pandemic. We did see a reduction in income from some corporate customers during the last quarter of our previous financial year, but during the current period that effect has gradually diminished.”
