Softcat down after results

The price of shares in FTSE 250 IT infrastructure business Softcat (LON:SCT) fell by 6.85% to 1,156p (as of 11:50 BST) after the firm posted results for the year ended 31st July. Revenues for the year were up by 8.6% and operating profits climbed by 10.9% but the company said that demand had softened during the final four months of the year and management expect corporate clients to remain conservative in the near future.

CEO Graeme Watt commented: “Following a very strong first half of the year we were able to seamlessly transition to 100% home working when the need arose and, despite impact on demand from corporate customers during the last four months of our financial year, we continued to deliver growth in both our third and fourth quarters. We also made continued progress with both new and existing customers and are pleased to report that our customer base grew by 3% and gross profit per customer was up 8% on a full year basis.

“The robust nature of our growth and the strength of our bank debt-free balance sheet means we are well-positioned to seize the long-term opportunities within our market. We were able to deliver these results without the need for redundancies, and our plans for 2021 are to continue to invest in skills and talent to meet our growth ambitions and further enhance our market share“.