Computacenter says results much better than expected

The computer services company said successful trading in the first half of the year had continued in the first two months of the second half. The unscheduled update was Computacenter's second trading upgrade in less than two months.

On 22 July the FTSE 250 company said first-half profit was substantially ahead of the year before and that the second half would be better than expected. On Wednesday it said the year would be better than predicted in that statement.

The company's shares rose 9.6% to £22.10.22 at 08:51 BST.

Computacenter's business has boomed during the Covid-19 crisis as companies and other organisations have sought help setting workers up for home working and protecting their computer networks.

The company said: "As we consolidate our forecasts for the rest of the year, it has become clear to the board that the likely out turn for the year as a whole will be materially above the Board's previous expectations as set out in the group's trading update statement announced on 22 July 2020."

Computacenter withdrew its final dividend for the last financial year in April to conserve cash during the crisis. The company reports first-half results on 9 September.