Computacenter has raised its annual profit outlook after reporting a record-high backlog of orders, driven by demand for AI infrastructure.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed company rose by about 7% on Monday morning following an update to investors. The technology provider said its financial performance in the third quarter had beaten expectations, with revenue from its technology sourcing division growing strongly.
Record order backlog
At the end of September, the company reported a record-high backlog of orders worth £12.6 billion, compared with £9.3 billion at the end of June, along with a strong pipeline of opportunities.
As a result, bosses now expect to report an adjusted pre-tax profit for the year of at least £425 million, up from the £387 million that analysts had been forecasting.
Driven by hyperscale and neocloud customers
The stronger performance was primarily driven by “hyperscale and neocloud” customers in North America and the UK, the company said. This captures its work in delivering infrastructure projects such as large data centres and AI cloud computing.
Computacenter designs, sources and deploys IT infrastructure to companies around the world, including hardware and software components, data storage and connectivity.
AI spending boosts demand
The company, which was promoted to the FTSE 100 from the FTSE 250 in June, previously said some of its customers were reprioritising their IT spending towards AI projects. This has led to increased demand for components that can power that work, while supply shortages have also pushed up prices.
Components have been in particularly high demand because of so-called hyperscalers – operators of huge data centres such as Amazon, Meta and Google.
