Mega reseller Computacenter delivered on its forecast of better-than-expected profits for 2009, though revenues actually declined at the firm.

Results for the firm show revenues for the year to December 31, 2009 slipped 2.2 per cent to £2.5bn. Pre-tax profit was £48.4m, up 22.4 per cent on the year. Adjusted profit before tax was £54.2m, a 25.8 per cent rise.

During the year the firm sold off its trade distribution arm, CCD, which it said had given it more spare working capital. Distribution is typically lower-margin than the services business the firm is chasing these days.

In a statement, chairman Greg Lock said, "Competition is fierce and we must continuously improve our performance in order to win in the market place; the economic environment remains uncertain and our job is to help our customers address this, while improving our own business."

In his review, CEO Mike Norris said, "The outlook for our long-term contractual services business, where we save our customers money, remains encouraging and we predict revenue growth, particularly in the UK, in 2010 where contracts have already been secured. We also expect some improvement in gross profit compared to 2009 due to improved business take on and economies of scale."

However, he added, "Our professional services, coupled with our product supply, which is reliant on capital expenditure, is more difficult to predict.

While the encouraging signs of the end of 2009 in the UK had continued into this year, he said its German operation had seen a more "challenging" start to the year.

"It is not until we have gone through the end of the first quarter, that we can draw any meaningful conclusions about the performance of the Group, for the year as a whole," he concluded. ®