Northamber illustrated the fragility of the tech market today with results that showed a slip in sales, increasing credit insurance costs and a refusal to give guidance on its future performance.

The distributor managed to boost its profits for the year to June 30, which were up 5.9 per cent to £627,000, despite sales slipping 1.4 per cent to £179.7m.

Apart from the direct impact of cooling revenues, Northamber said, “administrative costs rose marginally due to increased insurance costs to provide for customers' defaults in the deteriorating economic environment”.

So it was perhaps unsurprising that chairman David Phillips opted not to round off his report with a forecast of the firm’s prospects.

“Within an area of largely discretionary expenditure and a lacklustre start to the year, it is simply not possible to provide any guidance beyond our determination to continue to manage the balance sheet tightly,” he said. ®

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• Northamber: 'It would be wrong to be optimistic' (19 February 2009)
• 'Difficult not to be pessimistic' says veteran IT distie (16 May 2008)
• Northamber announces £2.94m cash return (12 March 2008)
• Northamber sees slight H1 upswing (3 March 2008)
• Northamber reports static Q1 revenue (16 November 2007)
• Northamber blames Vista, weak dollar for revenue slide (5 October 2007)
• Northamber holds tight (28 February 2007)