Computacenter sees FY results 'comfortably in excess' of previous expectations

Shares in Computacenter surged as the IT services group said results for 2017 will be “comfortably in excess” of its previous expectations following a strong start to the fourth quarter.

Computacenter also pointed to the visibility of a growing pipeline for the rest of 2017.

In its interim results, the company said it planned to make a one-off return of value to shareholders in the fourth quarter of the year. However, the group said on Tuesday that while it remains committed to returning around £100m by way of a tender offer for ordinary shares, it would be inappropriate to launch a tender offer in the fourth quarter due to increases in profit expectations.

As a result, it now plans to launch a tender offer on 23 January 2018, the day after the release of its full-year trading update, “when the board will be in a position to provide greater clarity on the trading result for 2017”.

At 0910 GMT, the shares were up 7.7% to 1,064p.