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SCT Softcat Plc

1,632.00
2.00 (0.12%)
08 May 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
Softcat Plc LSE:SCT London Ordinary Share GB00BYZDVK82 ORD �0.0005
  Price Change % Change Share Price Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  2.00 0.12% 1,632.00 1,638.00 1,641.00 1,643.00 1,591.00 1,591.00 166,174 16:35:25
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
Computer Related Svcs, Nec 985.3M 112.03M 0.5614 29.18 3.27B

Softcat PLC Final Results (8820M)

19/10/2016 7:00am

UK Regulatory


Softcat (LSE:SCT)
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TIDMSCT

RNS Number : 8820M

Softcat PLC

19 October 2016

SOFTCAT plc

("Softcat", the "Company")

Preliminary Results for the twelve months to 31 July 2016

Strong performance, GBP28m special dividend proposed

Softcat plc (LSE: SCT.L), a leading UK provider of IT infrastructure products and services, today publishes its first set of full year results to 31 July 2016. The results demonstrate strong revenue and profit growth during the period.

 
                                Twelve months 
 Financial Summary                  ended 
                              31 July   31 July 
                               2016      2015     Growth 
                             --------  --------  ------- 
                              GBP'000   GBP'000     % 
 
 Revenue                      672,351   596,084    12.8 
 Gross profit                 120,717   102,775    17.5 
---------------------------  --------  --------  ------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit*                     46,751    40,586     15.2 
---------------------------  --------  --------  ------- 
 Operating profit             42,190    39,582     6.6 
 Dividends paid               43,453     7,298 
 
 Proposed Final dividend 
  (p)                           3.6 
 Proposed Special dividend 
  (p)                          14.2 
 
 Adjusted diluted earnings 
  per share** (p)              19.1      16.5      15.8 
 Diluted earnings per 
  share (p)                    16.9      16.0      5.6 
 
 

*Adjusted operating profit is defined as operating profit before exceptional items and share-based payment charges.

**Adjusted diluted earnings per share is defined as profit after tax before exceptional items and share based payment charges divided by the weighted average number of shares including the dilutive effect of share options.

Highlights for the twelve months to 31 July 2016

   --      Gross profit up 17.5% to GBP120.7m (2015:  GBP102.8m) 
   --      Gross profit margin up 0.8% pts to 18.0% (2015:  17.2%) 
   --      Gross profit includes the benefit of a one-off procurement saving of GBP3.4m (2015:  nil) 
   --      Adjusted operating profit up 15.2% to GBP46.8m (2015:  GBP40.6m) 
   --      Cash conversion(*) of 85.5% 
   --      Net cash position at year end of GBP62.4m 
   --      Adjusted diluted earnings per share up 15.8% 
   --      Customer numbers up 7.5% on prior year (2015:  6.5%) 
   --      Average headcount up 21%, driven by record sales and service staff recruitment 
   --      Glasgow operation launched 

(*Cash conversion is defined as cash flow from operations before tax but after capital expenditure, as a percentage of operating profit)

Martin Hellawell, Softcat CEO commented

"We are pleased to report continued strong organic growth at Softcat with 12.8% revenue growth, 17.5% growth in gross profit and 15.2% growth in adjusted operating profit, achieved against a backdrop of very modest growth in the UK economy which has equally been reflected in the IT market.

We have continued to win large numbers of new customers and earn increased spend from our existing customers. This has been achieved by our relentless focus on customer service, which is in turn driven by an excellent and engaged team of people at Softcat. We were delighted to be named as the UK's No.1 Best Workplace by the Great Places to Work Institute in April 2016.

Other recent notable highlights include entering the FTSE 250, the opening of our Glasgow branch, an incremental 133 people joining our organisation in the last financial year, and a plethora of industry awards including HP Enterprise Partner of the Year, Cisco UK&I Commercial Partner of the Year and Sophos UK&I Partner of the Year"

Analyst meeting

A results presentation for analysts and investors will be held today at the offices of FTI Consulting: 9(th) Floor, 200 Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD. Registration will open at 09.15 for an 09.30 start. Materials from this presentation will be available online at www.softcat.com from 09.00. A copy of this announcement will also be available online from 07.00.

 
 Enquiries 
 
 Softcat plc:               +44 (0)1628 403 403 
 Martin Hellawell, Chief 
  Executive Officer 
 Graham Charlton, Chief 
  Financial Officer 
 
                            +44 (0)20 3727 1 
 FTI Consulting LLP:         000 
 Ed Bridges 
 Dwight Burden 
 

Forward-looking statements

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". By their nature, such statements involve risk and uncertainty since they relate to future events and circumstances. Actual results may, and often do, differ materially from any forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statements in this announcement reflect management's view with respect to future events as at the date of this announcement. Save as required by law or by the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statements in this announcement following any change in its expectations or to reflect subsequent events or circumstances following the date of this announcement.

Chief Executive Officer's Review

The Company continued to perform well and deliver growth significantly ahead of the market during the year. Gross profit, our key measure of growth, was up by 17.5% which demonstrates the business is still taking significant market share from competitors. Softcat has now delivered 44 consecutive quarters of revenue and profit growth. This includes both the third and fourth quarters of our financial year when demand from our customers remained solid despite the distraction of the referendum and subsequent political developments. In fact, the Company grew at an even faster rate during the second half.

We saw higher growth in the more complex solutions areas of security, networking and data centre infrastructure than in the more commodity workplace computing area of our business. This contributed to the increase in gross profit margin in the period from 17.2% to 18.0%. This growth in gross margin flowed through strongly to operating profit and cash generation despite the extra costs of running the business as a PLC. As a result, we are delighted to be recommending a special dividend of 14.2p per share, on top of a final dividend of 3.6p per share.

The simple but effective growth strategy laid out during the IPO has continued to serve us well and will remain the Company's focus during the coming year; to continue to build scale and develop our offering to drive increases in both customer numbers and gross profit per customer.

In 2016 Softcat grew both customer numbers and gross profit per customer by 7.5% and 9.2%, respectively, and further increases in those metrics will again be a target during 2017. We categorise our customers into three broad groups: commercial (SMB/mid-market), public sector and enterprise. All three segments grew strongly and in line with our expectations, with income from public sector expanding from 26% to 29% of total revenue. Our reliance on individual accounts remains very low, with our largest customer accounting for just 1% of revenue in 2016.

To build scale we have continued to recruit more people into sales, technical specialist and service roles to advise on, implement and support technology for customers. The business will continue to target people that share a strong work ethic, are team players, who exhibit passion and resilience and who, more than anything, are motivated to provide customers with the very best standards of service. Softcat was named No.1 Best Workplace by the Great Places to Work Institute this year and continues to recruit great people who will contribute to a proud tradition of a highly engaged workplace which we believe ultimately drives our success. After the opening of our Glasgow office in February 2016, we now have six branches all within the UK. From a nucleus of 6 existing staff, we now have a team of 29 in Glasgow following the September 2016 intake. All Softcat branches grew well in the last financial year and we are targeting further headcount growth in all offices this year.

The expansion of our offering has driven the investment in technical and service staff. The relevance and need for the role Softcat plays in the market is as strong as ever, with vendors increasingly looking to the channel to serve the core mid-market. Customers are faced with ever more complex technology choices and need to keep pace in a world where IT can increasingly deliver competitive advantage. Softcat's role as trusted advisor with both a deep and broad skill base positions us well, both now and for the future. This is reflected in the growth achieved across all three revenue streams of software, hardware and services detailed in the CFO review below. Revenue from services grew most strongly as a result of both our ability to work with and resell vendor services, as well as an increase in Softcat's own service capability, and now represents 15% of total income (2015: 14%).

Competition remains as fierce as ever. Despite the Company's long record of market share growth there is no room for complacency and Softcat will continue to develop its product and service offering with the aim of staying ahead of the pack in everything we do. This will include further development of our product and service offering for both on premise and cloud technologies.

This has been a busy year for Softcat. It hasn't been an easy year - it never is and never will be. We constantly need to prove our worth to existing and new customers in a very competitive market. As well as the IPO, we also had the lead up to the EU referendum and the aftermath to contend with. While it is always difficult to know exactly what is affecting demand in our industry, we did see some customers making slower decisions leading up to the vote. That meant we had to compete even harder to achieve our goals, which we did. In the aftermath of the referendum, we have seen no obvious impact on trading in what remains a tough and fiercely competitive market. For many years we have demonstrated our ability to grow and gain market share in that environment and we look forward to the road ahead with confidence.

Outlook

Trading during the first 10 weeks of FY17 has been satisfactory.

Our marketplace is highly competitive and following the EU referendum the business environment is uncertain. However, the Board believes the Company is well placed to grow its market share in 2017 and it will maintain its focus on delivering profitable growth and strong cash conversion.

Chief Financial Officer's Review

 
 Financial Summary            FY16          FY15     Growth 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 Revenue                 GBP672.4m     GBP596.1m      12.8% 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 Revenue split 
  Software               GBP320.0m     GBP287.5m      11.3% 
  Hardware               GBP250.7m     GBP223.8m      12.0% 
  Services               GBP101.7m      GBP84.8m      19.9% 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 Gross profit            GBP120.7m     GBP102.8m      17.5% 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 Gross profit 
  margin                     18.0%         17.2%   0.8% pts 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit                  GBP46.8m      GBP40.6m      15.2% 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit margin               7.0%          6.8%   0.2% pts 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 Operating profit         GBP42.2m      GBP39.6m       6.6% 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
                                                     (46.5% 
 Cash conversion             85.5%        132.0%       pts) 
--------------------  ------------  ------------  --------- 
 

Revenue and gross profit

Softcat achieved revenue growth of 12.8% during the year, up to GBP672.4m, with gross margin also rising to 18.0% (2015: 17.2%). As a result, gross profit grew strongly, up 17.5% to GBP120.7m (2015: GBP102.8m). This includes the impact of GBP3.4m non-recurring procurement savings within cost of sales. Excluding this impact, gross profit grew by 14.1% and gross margin was 17.4%, and this underlying performance reflects continued progress against the Company's strategic goals of winning new customers and growing income from existing customers.

Excluding the non-recurring savings, growth in gross profit margin was driven by the Company's ability to capitalise on customer demand for complex technology solutions, such as networking and security software and datacentre infrastructure. This was true across all customer segments and growth was evident in both public sector and corporate accounts. In keeping with recent years, income from public sector customers expanded as a proportion of total revenue to 29% (2015: 26%).

Revenue mix across technology categories (software, hardware and services) was largely unchanged. Services income expanded slightly as a proportion of the total from 14% to 15%, mainly reflecting strong growth in the resale of vendor service products as well as the expansion of the Company's internal services capability.

 
 Customer KPIs          FY16      FY15   Growth 
------------------  --------  --------  ------- 
 Customer numbers      12.2k     11.4k     7.5% 
------------------  --------  --------  ------- 
 Gross profit 
  per customer       GBP9.9k   GBP9.0k     9.2% 
------------------  --------  --------  ------- 
 

Customer numbers were up 7.5% (2015: 6.5%), reflecting the positive impact of the acceleration in new graduate hires into the sales force during the past 18 months.

Gross profit per customer rose by 9.2%, or 6.2% when the procurement saving impact is adjusted out (2015: 9.0%). The modest reduction in underlying gross profit per customer growth is expected during a period of high new customer additions due to dilution in average tenure. The Company typically sees close correlation between customer tenure (which is also closely tied to sales force tenure) and GP per customer.

Revenue remains well dispersed across the customer base, with the largest customer accounting for just 1% of total income.

Adjusted operating profit

Adjusted operating profit increased by 15.2% to GBP46.8m, including a net benefit of GBP2.6m from the one-off procurement savings (after commission costs). Excluding the one-off benefit adjusted operating profit grew by 8.9%. This reflects the rise in gross profit, partially offset by new costs of public company governance of GBP1.1m (2015: GBP0.2m). Excluding both the net impact of the one-off and the governance costs adjusted operating profit increased 11.0%. This is a strong result in the context of significant investments in the form of new graduate account managers as well as services and technical staff.

Adjusted operating profit margin of 7.0% (2015: 6.8%) was up slightly on prior year due to the rise in gross profit margin.

To support the Company's growth strategy a sixth office was opened during the year. The new location in Glasgow welcomed its first graduate recruits during the third financial quarter. Previous new openings in Bristol (2014) and Leeds (2015) both delivered good growth in 2016. In line with our existing operating model, the incremental non-staff costs of the Glasgow office do not represent a significant increase in the Company's cost base (<GBP0.3m p.a.).

Operating profit

Operating profit of GBP42.2m (2015: GBP39.6m) is 6.6% up on the prior period reflecting the growth in adjusted operating profit, counterbalanced by exceptional IPO costs of GBP3.7m (2015: GBP1.0m), and share-based payment charges of GBP0.9m (2015: GBP0.0m).

Corporation tax charge

The effective tax rate for 2016 was 21.8% (2015: 21.8%). This reflects the offsetting impacts of a reduction in the blended standard rate of UK corporation tax applicable to the period from 20.67% to 20.00%, set against the non-deductible nature of some expenses related to the IPO. The Company has a net deferred tax asset carried forward of GBP426k at the balance sheet date, mainly in respect of share-based payment reliefs which will be applied to future periods.

Cash and balance sheet

Cash conversion was strong at 85.5% (2015: 132%), reflecting the ongoing close management of working capital balances as the business continues to grow. Cash conversion was exceptionally strong during 2014-2015 due to improved debtor and creditor management in those years. In 2016 closing net assets, excluding cash, as a percentage of revenue was constant year on year at 3.7% (2015: 3.6%), demonstrating the maintenance of the lean position developed over the previous periods.

The Company's balance sheet reflects the nature of the business, being both simple and efficient. As a result of our partnerships with distributors and vendors, stock holdings are kept to an absolute minimum and the value of inventory recognised at year end mainly reflects goods in transit.

The Company closed the year with an aggregate cash balance of GBP62.4m and no debt, after the payment of pre-IPO and interim dividends in the year totalling GBP43.5m.

Dividend

A final dividend of 3.6p per share has been recommended by the directors and if approved by shareholders will be paid on 16 December 2016. The record date will be 18 November and the shares will trade ex-dividend on 17 November.

In line with the Company's stated intention to return excess cash to shareholders over time, the Board has proposed a further special dividend payment of 14.2p per share. If approved by shareholders at the Company's AGM this would also be paid alongside the final dividend in December 2016, and would bring total cash returned to shareholders since IPO to GBP38.5m.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The principal risks facing the Company have been identified and evaluated by the Board. In summary, these include:

 
 Risk              Potential                                      Management & mitigation 
                    impacts 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 BUSINESS STRATEGY 
---------------------------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 Customer 
 dissatisfaction     *    Reputational damage                      *    Graduate training programme 
 
 
                     *    Loss of competitive advantage            *    Ongoing vendor training for sales staff 
 
 
                                                                   *    Annual customer survey with detailed follow-up on 
                                                                        negative responses 
 
 
                                                                   *    Process for escalating cases of dissatisfaction to MD 
                                                                        & CEO 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 Failure to 
  evolve our         *    Loss of customers                         *    Processes in place to act on customer feedback about 
  technology                                                             new technologies 
  offering 
  with changing      *    Reduced profit per customer 
  customer                                                          *    Training and development programme for all technical 
  needs                                                                  staff 
 
 
                                                                    *    Regular business reviews with all vendors 
 
 
                                                                    *    Sales specialist teams aligned to emerging 
                                                                         technologies to support general account managers 
 
 
                                                                    *    Regular specialist and service offering reviews with 
                                                                         senior management 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 OPERATIONAL 
---------------------------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 Cyber security 
                    *    Inability to deliver customer services    *    Company-wide information security policy 
 
 
                    *    Reputational damage                       *    Appropriate induction and training procedures for all 
                                                                        staff 
 
                    *    Financial loss 
                                                                   *    External penetration testing programme undertaken 
 
 
                                                                   *    ISO 27001 accreditation 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 Disruption 
  to Managed         *    Customer dissatisfaction                  *    Operation of back-up operations centre and data 
  Services                                                               centre platforms 
  operations 
                     *    Business interruption 
                                                                    *    Established processes to deal with incident 
                                                                         management, change control, etc. 
                     *    Reputational damage 
 
                                                                    *    Continued investment in operations centre management 
                     *    Financial loss                                 and other resources 
 
 
                                                                    *    Ongoing upgrades to network 
 
 
                                                                    *    Regular testing of DR plans 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 FINANCIAL 
---------------------------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 Profit margin 
  pressure           *    Reduced margins                          *    Ongoing training to sales and operations team to keep 
  including                                                             pace with new vendor programmes 
  rebates 
 
                                                                   *    Rebate programmes are industry standard and not 
                                                                        specific to the Company 
 
 
                                                                   *    Rebates form an important but only minority element 
                                                                        of total operating profits 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 PEOPLE 
---------------------------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 Culture change 
                     *    Reduced staff engagement                  *    Culture embedded in the organisation over a long 
                                                                         history 
 
                     *    Negative impact on customer service 
                                                                    *    Branch structure with empowered local management 
 
 
                                                                    *    Quarterly staff survey with feedback acted upon 
 
 
                                                                    *    Regular staff events and incentives 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 Poor leadership 
                     *    Lack of strategic direction               *    Succession planning process 
 
 
                     *    Deteriorating vendor relationships        *    Experienced and broad senior management team 
 
 
                     *    Reduced staff engagement 
----------------  ---------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
 

Going Concern

The financial position of the Company, its cash flows, and liquidity position are described in the Chief Financial Officer's Review above.

The Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and have therefore continued to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

Cautionary Statement

This preliminary announcement has been prepared solely to provide additional information to shareholders to assess the Company's strategies and the potential for those strategies to succeed. The preliminary announcement should not be relied on by any other party or for any other purpose.

In making this preliminary announcement, the Company is not seeking to encourage any investor to either buy or sell shares in the Company. Any investor in any doubt about what action to take is recommended to seek financial advice from an independent financial advisor authorised by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income

For the year ended 31 July 2016

 
                                                 2016        2015 
                                              GBP'000     GBP'000 
                                     Note 
 
 Revenue                              3       672,351     596,084 
 Cost of sales                              (551,634)   (493,309) 
                                           ----------  ---------- 
 
 Gross profit                                 120,717     102,775 
 
 Administrative expenses                     (78,527)    (63,193) 
                                           ----------  ---------- 
 
 Operating profit                              42,190      39,582 
 
 Adjusted operating profit                     46,751      40,586 
 Exceptional items                    4       (3,673)       (999) 
 Share - based payments 
  charge                                        (888)         (5) 
                                           ----------  ---------- 
 
 Finance income                                   213         195 
                                           ----------  ---------- 
 
 Profit before taxation                        42,403      39,777 
 Income tax expense                   5       (9,245)     (8,660) 
                                           ----------  ---------- 
 
 Profit for the year attributable 
  to owners of the Company                     33,158      31,117 
                                           ----------  ---------- 
 
 Total comprehensive income 
  for the year attributable 
  to owners of the Company                     33,158      31,117 
                                           ==========  ========== 
 
 
 Basic earnings per Ordinary 
  Share (pence)                       9         16.9p       16.3p 
 Diluted earnings per Ordinary 
  Share (pence)                       9         16.9p       16.0p 
 Adjusted basic earnings 
  per Ordinary Share (pence)          9         19.2p       16.7p 
 Adjusted diluted earnings 
  per Ordinary Share (pence)          9         19.1p       16.5p 
                                           ==========  ========== 
 

All results are derived from continuing operations.

Statement of Financial Position

As at 31 July 2016

 
                                              2016        2015 
                                           GBP'000     GBP'000 
 Assets                           Note 
 Non-current assets 
 Property, plant and equipment               6,391       6,997 
 Intangible assets                             667         458 
 Deferred tax asset                            426         678 
                                        ----------  ---------- 
 
 Total non-current assets                    7,484       8,133 
 
 Current assets 
 Inventories                                 4,611       2,652 
 Trade and other receivables       7       132,787     121,952 
 Cash and cash equivalents                  62,361      74,642 
                                        ----------  ---------- 
 
 Total current assets                      199,759     199,246 
                                        ----------  ---------- 
 
 Total assets                              207,243     207,379 
                                        ==========  ========== 
 
 Liabilities 
 Current liabilities 
 Trade and other payables          8     (115,527)   (108,053) 
 Income tax payable                        (4,352)     (3,510) 
                                        ----------  ---------- 
 
 Total current liabilities               (119,879)   (111,563) 
                                        ----------  ---------- 
 
 Net assets                                 87,364      95,816 
                                        ==========  ========== 
 
 
 Equity 
 Issued share capital                           99          98 
 Share premium account                       4,454       3,942 
 Other reserves                            (3,531)     (3,994) 
 Retained earnings                          86,342      95,770 
                                        ----------  ---------- 
 
 Total equity                               87,364      95,816 
                                        ==========  ========== 
 

Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 July 2016

 
                                               Reserve 
                                                   for 
                            Share      Share       own    Retained      Total 
                          capital    premium    shares    earnings     equity 
                        ---------  ---------  --------  ----------  --------- 
                          GBP'000    GBP'000   GBP'000     GBP'000    GBP'000 
 
 Balance at 1 August 
  2015                         98      3,942   (3,994)      95,770     95,816 
 Total comprehensive 
  income for the year           -          -         -      33,158     33,158 
 Share-based payment 
  transactions                  -          -         -         572        572 
 Dividends paid                 -          -         -    (43,453)   (43,453) 
 Shares issued in 
  year                          1        512         -           -        513 
 Tax adjustments                -          -         -         295        295 
 Own share movement 
  during the year               -          -       463           -        463 
                        ---------  ---------  --------  ----------  --------- 
 Balance at 31 July 
  2016                         99      4,454   (3,531)      86,342     87,364 
 
 
 Balance at 1 August 
  2014                         95      2,865   (1,469)      70,808     72,299 
 Total comprehensive 
  income for the year           -          -         -      31,117     31,117 
 Share-based payment 
  transactions                  -          -         -           5          5 
 Dividends paid                 -          -         -     (7,298)    (7,298) 
 Shares issued in 
  year                          3      1,077         -           -      1,080 
 Tax adjustments                -          -         -       1,234      1,234 
 Own share movement 
  during the year               -          -   (2,525)        (96)    (2,621) 
                        ---------  ---------  --------  ----------  --------- 
 Balance at 31 July 
  2015                         98      3,942   (3,994)      95,770     95,816 
 

Statement of Cash Flows

For the year ended 31 July 2016

 
                                             2016      2015 
                                        ---------  -------- 
                                          GBP'000   GBP'000 
                                  Note 
 
 Net cash generated from 
  operating activities             10      29,925    47,411 
 
 Cash flows from investing 
  activities 
 Finance income                               213       195 
 Purchase of property, 
  plant and equipment                     (1,190)   (2,217) 
 Purchase of intangible 
  assets                                    (536)     (288) 
 Proceeds from asset disposals                 11         4 
                                        ---------  -------- 
 
 Net cash used in investing 
  activities                              (1,502)   (2,306) 
 
 Cash flows from financing 
  activities 
 Issue of share capital                       513       977 
 Deferred purchase share 
  proceeds                                  1,773       676 
 Dividends paid                    6     (43,453)   (7,311) 
 Own share transactions                       463   (2,525) 
                                        ---------  -------- 
 
 Net cash generated used 
  in financing activities                (40,704)   (8,183) 
                                        ---------  -------- 
 
 Net (decrease)/increase 
  in cash and cash equivalents           (12,281)    36,922 
 Cash and cash equivalents 
  at beginning of year                     74,642    37,720 
                                        ---------  -------- 
 
 Cash and cash equivalents 
  at end of year                           62,361    74,642 
                                        =========  ======== 
 

Notes to the Financial Information

   1.            General information 

Softcat plc (the "Company") is a public limited company, incorporated and domiciled in the UK. Its registered address is Fieldhouse Lane, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1LW.

The annual financial information presented in this preliminary announcement does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 July 2016 or 2015 but is based on, and consistent with, that in the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2016, and those financial statements will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's Annual General Meeting. The auditor's report on those financial statements was unqualified, did not contain an emphasis of matter paragraph and did not contain any statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

   2.            Accounting policies 
   2.1          Basis of preparation 

Whilst the financial information included in this announcement has been compiled in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") this announcement does not itself contain sufficient information to comply with IFRS.

The Financial Statements are presented in Pounds Sterling, rounded to the nearest GBPthousand, unless otherwise stated. They were prepared under the historical cost convention.

Going concern

For reasons noted above, the financial information has been prepared on the going concern basis, which assumes that the Company will continue to be able to meet its liabilities as they fall due for the foreseeable future, being a period of at least twelve months from the date of signing the financial statements. At the date of approving the financial statements, the Directors are not aware of any circumstances that could lead to the Company being unable to settle commitments as they fall due during the twelve months from the date of signing these financial statements.

Changes to accounting standards

There have been no changes to accounting standards during the year which have had or are expected to have any significant impact on the Company.

Accounting policies

The preliminary announcement for the year ended 31 July 2016 has been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies as disclosed in Softcat plc's Annual Report and Accounts 2015, as updated to take effect of any new accounting standards applicable for the year.

Exceptional items

Items which are material either because of their size or their nature, or which are non-recurring, are presented within administrative expenses on the face of the statement of comprehensive income. These costs related to the Company's Listing on the premium main market of the London Stock Exchange in November 2015.

Share based payment charges

The share based payment charge includes a fair value charge of GBP572,156 (FY15: GBP5,000) and a charge for employer's national insurance contributions of GBP315,794 (FY15: GBPnil), which become payable on exercise of share options and long term incentive awards.

Adjusted operating profit

In arriving at adjusted operating profit, both exceptional items and share based payment charges are removed in order to help present a more accurate picture of the Company's underlying performance.

   3.            Segmental information 

The information reported to the Company's Chief Executive Officer, who is considered to be the chief operating decision maker for the purposes of resource allocation and assessment of performance, is based wholly on the overall activities of the Company. The Company has therefore determined that it has only one reportable segment under IFRS 8, which is that of "value-added IT reseller and IT infrastructure solutions provider". The Company's revenue and results and assets for this one reportable segment can be determined by reference to the statement of comprehensive income and statement of financial position. An analysis of revenues by product, which form one reportable segment, is set out below:

 
 Revenue by type 
 
                       2016      2015 
                    GBP'000   GBP'000 
 
 Software           319,978   287,469 
 Hardware           250,692   223,845 
 Services           101,681    84,770 
                   --------  -------- 
                    672,351   596,084 
                   ========  ======== 
 

The total revenue for the Company has been derived from its principal activity as an IT reseller. Substantially all of this revenue relates to trading undertaken in the United Kingdom.

   4.            Exceptional items 

Operating profit for the year has been arrived at after charging:

 
                 2016      2015 
              GBP'000   GBP'000 
 
 IPO costs      3,673       999 
 
 

All IPO costs incurred relate to the Company's listing on the London Stock Exchange in November 2015.

   5.            Taxation 
 
                                       2016      2015 
                                    GBP'000   GBP'000 
 Current Tax 
 Current income tax charge 
  in the year                         9,179     8,970 
 Adjustment in respect of 
  current income tax in previous 
  years                                 (7)       (6) 
 
 Deferred Tax 
 Temporary timing differences            73     (304) 
 
 Total tax charge for the 
  year                                9,245     8,660 
 
   6.            Ordinary Dividends 
 
                                     2016      2015 
                                  GBP'000   GBP'000 
 Declared and paid during 
  the year, prior to IPO and 
  share reorganisation: 
 Ordinary dividend on ordinary 
  shares                           36,765     6,622 
 Ordinary dividend on 'MR' 
  shares                              864       240 
 Ordinary dividend on 'A' 
  ordinary shares                   2,469       449 
                                 --------  -------- 
                                   40,098     7,311 
 
 Declared and paid during 
  the year, post IPO and share 
  reorganisation: 
 Ordinary dividend on ordinary 
  shares                            3,355         - 
                                 --------  -------- 
                                   43,453     7,311 
 Adjustment in respect of 
  prior year                            -      (13) 
                                 --------  -------- 
                                   43,453     7,298 
 

The dividends paid in the six months ended 31 January 2016 were paid prior to the reorganisation of share capital, see note 11, and therefore are shown as dividends split between the pre reorganisation share classes.

An interim dividend of 1.7p per share, amounting to a total dividend of GBP3.36m was paid on 29 April 2016 to those on the share register on 1 April 2016.

The Board recommends a final dividend of 3.6p per ordinary share and a special dividend of 14.2p per ordinary share to be paid on 16 December 2016 to all ordinary shareholders who were on the register of members at the close of business on 18 November 2016. Shareholders will be asked to approve the final and special dividends at the AGM on 8 December 2016.

   7.            Trade and other receivables 
 
                                     2016      2015 
                                 --------  -------- 
                                  GBP'000   GBP'000 
 
 Trade and other receivables      123,833   112,943 
 Provision against receivables    (1,265)   (1,008) 
                                 --------  -------- 
 Net trade receivables            122,568   111,935 
 Called up share capital not 
  paid                                  -     1,783 
 Other debtors                         59        49 
 Prepayments                        4,764     3,785 
 Accrued Income                     5,396     4,400 
                                 --------  -------- 
                                  132,787   121,952 
 
   8.            Trade and other payables 
 
                                       2016      2015 
                                   --------  -------- 
                                    GBP'000   GBP'000 
 
 Trade payables                      67,759    71,213 
 Other taxes and social security     11,778     9,209 
 Accruals                            24,000    23,361 
 Deferred Income                     11,990     4,270 
                                   --------  -------- 
                                    115,527   108,053 
 
   9.            Earnings per share 
 
                                 2016    2015 
                               ------  ------ 
                                Pence   Pence 
 Earnings per share 
 Basic                           16.9    16.3 
 Diluted                         16.9    16.0 
 Adjusted earnings per share 
 Basic                           19.2    16.7 
 Diluted                         19.1    16.5 
 

The calculation of the basic and adjusted earnings per share and diluted earnings per share is based on the following data:

 
                                     2016      2015 
                                 --------  -------- 
                                  GBP'000   GBP'000 
 
 Earnings 
                                 --------  -------- 
 Earnings for the purposes 
  of earnings per share being 
  profit for the year              33,158    31,117 
                                 --------  -------- 
 
 Adjusted Earnings 
 Profit for the year               33,158    31,117 
 Exceptional costs                  3,673       999 
 Share based payment charge           888         5 
 Tax effect of adjusting items       (97)      (57) 
                                 --------  -------- 
 Earnings for the purposes 
  of adjusted earnings per 
  share                            37,622    32,064 
                                 --------  -------- 
 
 

The weighted average number of shares is given below:

 
                                       2016      2015 
                                   --------  -------- 
                                      000's     000's 
 
 Number of shares used for 
  basic earnings per share          196,040   191,540 
 Number of shares deemed to 
  be issued at nil consideration 
  following exercise of share 
  options                               696     3,228 
                                   --------  -------- 
 Number of shares used for 
  diluted earnings per share        196,736   194,768 
                                   --------  -------- 
 
 
   10.          Notes to the cash flow statement 
 
                                            2016       2015 
                                       ---------  --------- 
                                         GBP'000    GBP'000 
 
 Cash flow from operating activities 
 Operating profit                         42,190     39,582 
 Depreciation of property, 
  plant and equipment                      1,796      1,794 
 Amortisation of intangibles                 327        353 
 (Profit)/loss on disposal 
  of fixed assets                            (9)         28 
 Cost of equity settled employee 
  share schemes                              572          5 
                                       ---------  --------- 
 Operating cash flow before 
  movements in working capital            44,876     41,762 
 
 (Increase)/decrease in inventories      (1,961)      1,830 
 Increase in trade and other 
  receivables                           (12,608)   (22,425) 
 Increase in trade and other 
  payables                                 7,474     33,563 
                                       ---------  --------- 
                                         (7,095)     12,968 
 
 Cash generated from operations           37,781     54,730 
 Income taxes paid                       (7,856)    (7,319) 
                                       ---------  --------- 
 
 Net cash generated from operating 
  activities                              29,925     47,411 
                                       =========  ========= 
 
   11.          Share capital 
 
                                                 2015 
                                            --------- 
                                              GBP'000 
  Authorised 
 
  Pre reorganisation 
   Ordinary shares of 1p each                     112 
  'MR' shares of 1p each                            2 
  'A' ordinary shares of 1p 
   each                                             6 
                                            --------- 
                                                  120 
 
Limits on authorised share capital were removed 
 on re-registration as a public limited company. 
 
  Allotted and called up                         2015 
                                            --------- 
                                              GBP'000 
 Pre reorganisation 
 Ordinary shares of 1p each                        90 
 'MR' shares of 1p each                             2 
 'A' ordinary shares of 1p 
  each                                              6 
                                            --------- 
                                                   98 
                                      2016 
                                 --------- 
                                   GBP'000 
 Post reorganisation 
 Ordinary shares of 0.05p 
  each                                  99 
 Deferred shares* of 0.01p 
  each                                   - 
                                 --------- 
                                        99 
 

*At 31 July 2016 deferred shares had an aggregate nominal value of GBP189.33

On 12 November 2015, pursuant to special resolutions of the Company and conditional upon admission to the official list of the FCA (which took place on 18 November 2015), it was resolved that:

-- 188,500 'MR' shares of GBP0.01 each be redesignated as ordinary shares of GBP0.01 each and their rights varied accordingly;

-- 588,322 'A' ordinary shares of GBP0.01 each be redesignated as ordinary shares of GBP0.01 each and their rights varied accordingly;

-- 18,933 'A' ordinary shares of GBP0.01 each be redesignated as deferred shares of GBP0.01 each; and

-- each ordinary share of GBP0.01 be sub-divided into 20 ordinary shares of GBP0.0005 each.

No issued ordinary shares of 0.0005p each were unpaid at 31 July 2016 (2015: 5,060,000 unpaid).

   12.          Post balance sheet events 

Dividend

The Board recommends a final dividend of 3.6p per ordinary share and a special dividend of 14.2p per ordinary share to be paid on 16 December 2016 to all ordinary shareholders who were on the register of members at the close of business on 18 November 2016. Shareholders will be asked to approve the final and special dividends at the AGM on 8 December 2016.

Corporate Information

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial information differs from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Directors

G L Charlton

L Ginsberg

M J Hellawell

V Murria

P Ventress

B Wallace

Secretary

Capita Company Secretarial Services Limited

40 Dukes Place

London

EC3A 7NH

Company registration number

02174990

Registered office

Solar House

Fieldhouse Lane

Marlow

Buckinghamshire

SL7 1LW

Auditor

Ernst & Young LLP

1 More London

London

SE1 2AF

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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October 19, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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