Footsie Explorer
18 Jan 2018
Re: Interims 22nd January is going to be interesting and will determine if I made the right call.I was wrong about the £100m return being via share consolidation as they announced in November that it would be a tender offer.Since then the shares have rocketed.Will the board revert to a tender offer price determined prior to the announcement or will they use today's price as the benchmark?FWIW I sold a weighty amount at £10.50 and a further tranch at £12.00.I will be looking to go back in post tender offer at a target price of £9.50.I wish I had a crystal ball at times like these!
Triggers broom
25 Aug 2017
Re: Interims FE - I suggest that there may well be a National Grid and Vodafone scenario here whereby people see "free" money with the £100m return headline. As we all know, this will be a share consolidation as every return by Computacenter has been in the past so things are so rarely "free". So I will be seriously thinking about selling prior to the consolidation and buying back after (as I have learnt from experience of the two previously mentioned companies!).I've been through both VOD and NG specials and you may have the right tactic given the amount of head scratching required. It would be nice if the £100M return (~81.5p/share?) is just a pure special and priced in today's rise but I guess we'll have to wait for the Finals. It also wasn't clear if the £100M was on top of a Final div either but that's maybe being greedy. Glad to have CCC occupy the C slot in my ISA.
Footsie Explorer
25 Aug 2017
Re: Interims Indeed I take your point and agree on the results themselves - very encouraging indeed.I'd like to know why Germany is doing so well but as many of CCC clients are banks/financial institutions I see that this may well be some upside from Brexit and Frankfurt seeking to displace London as Europe's financial capital and investing accordingly. If I were a CCC salesman in Germany I certainly would be talking this up 
I suggest that there may well be a National Grid and Vodafone scenario here whereby people see "free" money with the £100m return headline. As we all know, this will be a share consolidation as every return by Computacenter has been in the past so things are so rarely "free". So I will be seriously thinking about selling prior to the consolidation and buying back after (as I have learnt from experience of the two previously mentioned companies!).
Triggers broom
25 Aug 2017
Interims For once the market has taken a stellar set of results and reacted accordingly. So far up 18% intraday and rising.Nice way to end the week. Well played Mike Norris and team.
Footsie Explorer
19 Jul 2017
Re: USA Computacenter is thinking about US acquisitionIT service provider Computacenter has recently been present with its own subsidiary in the USA. Mike Norris, CEO, announces the acquisition is now ready for an acquisition.From: Redaktion ChannelObserverComputacenter CEO Mike NorrisIT service provider Computacenter is openly thinking about making an acquisition in the USA to strengthen local product availability. The Group expanded last year to the US to expand its global support for its European customers. Last month, a US branch was officially opened. Meanwhile, the IT service provider employs 500 people in the US and 200 in Mexico, as the UK branch office channelweb writes. The seventh customer could also be won there. "We can also build our service business there organically. A takeover in the service division is therefore not absolutely necessary. But to quickly expand the fulfillment offer, an acquisition is sensible, "Computacenter CEO Mike Norris is quoted. However, no discussions had yet been held.Computacenter announced in March 2016 that it intends to launch a direct presence in the US. A support center in Mexico is also planned. Although customers in more than 100 countries would be catered for, the focus was on the five countries of the UK,
Footsie Explorer
07 Jun 2017
USA [link] QUIETLY proceeding to their stated plan......sometimes I wish they would do more of the bravado stuff.
Footsie Explorer
03 Apr 2017
Acquisition A little snippet that seems to have bypassed the RNS but does feature on their website.[link] [link]
Footsie Explorer
19 Jan 2017
Steady hands This is why I like this company - a steady pair of experienced hands.....no ego chasing.For some it might be boring but its hugely cash generative and they prefer organic growth over acquisition.Computacenter CEO says UK acquisition 'on the horizon' [link] But Mike Norris expresses scepticism towards buy-and-build model as he reveals he was pitched 2e2 for £300m less than a year before it went bust Doug Woodburn Doug Woodburn @DougWoodburn 12 January 2017 Computacenter CEO Mike Norris has hinted that the firm is closing in on a UK acquisition, despite expressing scepticism over the industry's track record when it comes to M&A activity.Mike Norris (pictured) said a deal in Computacenter's home market could be "on the horizon" as he revealed details of the firm's latest acquisition, Swiss professional services outfit Citius.The Citius deal was completed on Friday, but talking to CRN sister publication Channelnomics Europe, Norris said the transaction was too small to warrant board approval or a stock market announcement.Computacenter has been quiet on the M&A front in its home market of late, with Digica (2007), Thesaurus (2009) and ICS Solutions (2011) being rare examples of UK acquisitions it has made public in the last decade.The firm has made a relatively modest 19 acquisitions since it went public in 1998, but Norris hinted that there are "one or two" more deals in the pipeline for Computacenter, including a prospect in the UK."We have one in the UK on the horizon," he said."I had a banker trying to sell me 2e2 - I promise you - for £300m within a year of it going bust and he couldn't understand why I was saying no, and it went bust worth zero." Norris, however, expressed ambivalence towards M&A activity in general, claiming that acquisitions in the IT industry have generally not worked out."We'll buy something that we think is good value," he said."The problem is that most people have an over-inflated value of what their business is worth. I won't overpay."If one does any kind of research on acquisitions, they'll find on average they've not worked in this business. They have failed materially more often than they have succeeded."Computacenter has expanded mainly through organic growth, and Norris admitted he was sceptical of the buy-and-build model."What really doesn't work is roll-ups," he said."No one in this industry has learned the lessons of 2e2 as far as I'm concerned. Everyone says 2e2 was an accident waiting to happen, but no one said that before it happened."I had a banker trying to sell me 2e2 - I promise you - for £300m within a year of it going bust and he couldn't understand why I was saying no, and it went bust worth zero."You can't trust the investment bankers at all, especially not the small ones. The big ones have a reputation and brand to look after, but the little ones will say and do anything to get a deal; it's so unregulated at that level, it's unreal."Computacenter operates across three areas, namely managed services, professional services, and product resale, Norris explained.The latest Swiss acquisition adds professional services prowess to its existing local business, which focused on managed services, Norris said."The Swiss business is more of a managed services business, and we don't sell very much product," he added."This acquisition gives us some more technical skills. It's much easier to add the reseller arm if you have a professional services business. Over time, what I want to do is do all three of those things in every country in which I operate, which is what we already do in Belgium, Germany, France and the UK."On another note, Norris also confirmed that Computacenter is among the first batch of Dell-EMC partners to have been designated exclusive 'Titanium Black' sta
old urms
28 Nov 2016
More director buys Non exec chairman just bought £100k's worth also.
old urms
27 Nov 2016
Re: Chairman Buys a2z200 , seems the chairman has been at it again. 250k's worth if my addition is correct. He obviously has faith in the company. Price is slowly ticking up again. Let's hope he's ahead of the news stream.
bidz
19 Oct 2016
todays rise good bounce back today, back to where it should be
II Editor
16 Oct 2015
NEW ARTICLE: The week ahead: ARM Holdings, Whitbread, Computacenter "Monday 19 OctoberAGM/EGMCity of London Investment Group, CPL ResourcesTuesday 20 OctoberLSE:WTB:Whitbread is about to enter an expensive investment period as it fuels growth through room expansion. The strategy will increase the capital intensity ..."[link]
Footsie Explorer
03 Jul 2015
Re: Chairman Buys Personally, I don't think there is anything to read into it other than they are actually quite cheap for a company whose business is now firmly evolving from low margin "box shifting" to higher margin "services". It might reflect a feeling in the business that Germany and France are on a more stable footing.The shares are very tightly held by the founding directors and their families.It is cash generative and is regularly carrying out share buy-backs.That all said, the founders and many of the directors have been in the business a long time and there's a chance they might be looking to exit on a high but I have no idea what shape or form that would take.So I think I have managed to talk myself round to saying anything might happen! Sitting on the fence or what?!
a2z200
02 Jul 2015
Re: Chairman Buys bidz, Just to clear up any confusion I said nearly £200k... as in money... and I was refering to the 22500 shares he bought on the 30th... and I posted this before the second rns of 41k shares so anyway..question is..Why would a Chairman buy £500k in his companies shares when the SP at such a high ??
Footsie Explorer
01 Jul 2015
Re: Chairman Buys He also bought £172k the day before that too.
