The leadership of Computacenter plc are now working for no basic pay after furloughing a number of staff across the business in response to the pandemic.
Government furlough schemes in response to Covid-19 across Europe vary, but in the UK the process involves the government paying a company 80% of employees' salaries to avoid axing them from the payroll altogether in response to a downturn in business.
Those staff can then not work for the company while their salaries are being paid by the government and it is up to the company whether they make up the outstanding 20% of the salary of those staff.
The number of staff at Computacenter that have been furloughed so far, and where, has not been revealed by the company. Only last month, it reported that full-year revenues passed £5bn for the first time, with sales growing 16.1% (or 16.9% in constant currency) to £5.05bn for 2019. There was a 23.8% increase in adjusted profit before tax to £146.3m, resulting in a record adjusted diluted EPS of 92.5 pence (2018: 75.7 pence) - an increase of 22.2%.
At Computacenter, CEO Mike Norris and group finance director Tony Conophy have elected to reduce their base salary to zero from 1 April 2020 until 30 June 2020, “showing solidarity with staff that have been furloughed across the business”, they said.
In addition, Philip Hulme and Peter Ogden have “waived their basic fees due to them” as founder non-executive directors from 1 April 2020 until 31 December 2020. Further details on director remuneration for 2020 will be published on 9 April 2020 when the 2019 annual report and accounts is sent to shareholders. Computacenter's next scheduled trading update will be the group's Q1 trading statement on Friday 24 April 2020, when it will be expected to update shareholders on how it has so far been affected by the virus.
