The Computacenter Board propose a final dividend of 26.9 pence per share. The interim dividend paid on 11 October 2019 was 10.1 pence per share. Together with the final dividend, this brings the total ordinary dividend for 2019 to 37.0 pence per share, representing a 22.1 per cent increase on the 2018 total dividend per share of 30.3 pence.
Other financial highlights include:
The Group's total revenues grew 16.1 per cent or £700.2 million during the year, and by 16.9 per cent or £732.2 million during the year in constant currency including growth of £586.6 million from acquisitions. A 23.8 per cent increase in adjusted1 profit before tax to £146.3 million has resulted in record adjusted1 diluted EPS of 92.5 pence (2018: 75.7 pence), an increase of 22.2 per cent.
France had an excellent year with an organic increase in revenues of 15.7 per cent, led by a buoyant Technology Sourcing marketplace, and an increase in adjusted1 operating profit of 76.3 per cent, both on a constant currency basis.
Germany delivered another strong performance with revenue growth of 5.2 per cent during the year driven by a resilient Technology Sourcing business and a strong Professional Services result leading to a 27.9 per cent increase in adjusted operating profit, both on a constant currency basis. This was a very good performance given the material spend reduction from a key customer, that declined down to normal volumes rather than those seen in the prior year, which created a challenging comparison.
The UK saw a reduction in revenues of 1.8 per cent as both Services and Technology Sourcing revenues declined. The prior year comparative result contained two very large margin-dilutive Technology Sourcing deals that, being one-off in nature, contributed to this decline. Adjusted operating profit increased by 10.6 per cent during the year, with improvements in both Services and Technology Sourcing margins.
The US acquisition made on 30 September 2018 has seen a much better performance in the second half of 2019 as sales orders returned to a more expected baseline level after the slowdown in volumes in the first half of the year.
