Softcat beats expectations at year-end, will reinstate dividend

IT infrastructure company Softcat said on Wednesday that it had continued to trade “satisfactorily” during the final three months of its financial year, and as a result, delivered operating profit for the full-year slightly ahead of its expectations.

The FTSE 250 company said cash generation also remained strong through to the year-end on 31 July, adding that it now intended to resume its normal dividend policy and timetable later in the year.

That would include payment of the interim dividend previously cancelled in March, the board confirmed.

Those actions remained dependent upon there being no material adverse movement in conditions between now and its full-year results, set down for 20 October.

Details of the final dividend decision would be provided within that announcement, the directors said.

“Our performance during the year is a great credit to the team at Softcat and on behalf of the board I would like to thank them for their exceptional agility,” said chief executive officer Graeme Watt.

“We are pleased to have been able to maintain staff levels without any actions to furlough staff in this period.

“Cash generation has been strong and as a consequence we intend to resume our normal dividend policy in addition to the reinstatement of the cancelled interim dividend.”

At 0818 BST, shares in Softcat were up 2.1% at 1,356.95p.