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In a declining market the Group
held revenue almost flat, improved the operating
result before restructuring costs by nearly €
30 million to over € 70 million and became
cash positive.
Results for the year
Summary
Market conditions during the year have again been
difficult. The cutback in IT spending across Europe
has been even more severe than industry analysts
were forecasting at the beginning of the year. Price
competition was fierce and margins have been under
continual pressure. In spite of the difficulties
the Group has held revenue relatively flat, increased
market share across Europe as a whole and made significant
gains in the Nordic Region, France and the UK in
particular. Profit before restructuring costs has
increased substantially and the Group is now cash
positive for the first time.
Turnover
Group net turnover fell by only 1.8% to € 5,336.7
million (2002 – € 5,434.4 m). We were
7% ahead of the market.
Volume products reflected the slowdown in sales
to corporate customers and the increasing switch
by business users from purchasing desktop PC’s
to mobiles. Sales of professional desktop PC’s
declined by 11% to € 1,200 million (2002 –
€ 1,348 m) while sales of professional mobiles
increased by 14% to € 581 million (2002 –
€ 509 m). Sales of consumer product held up
well but a similar switch from desktops to mobiles
was experienced. Consumer desktops sales fell by
13% to € 905 million (2002 – € 1,044
m) while sales of consumer mobiles increased by
82% to € 350 million (2002 – € 192
m).
The slowdown in spending by corporate customers
affected the sales of total enterprise products
(including professional services) where sales declined
by 4% to € 1,471 million (2002 – €
1,539 m) but within this there was continued progress
in the growth of professional services and the sale
of storage products. Investment has continued in
large enterprise sales expertise in key countries
and there have been some notable successes with
major corporate accounts and with appointing new
corporate resellers. Large enterprise sales have
been key to growing sales in France, where large
enterprise revenue grew during the year by 49%,
in the UK/Ireland where they grew by 25% and in
the International region by 13%.
Another key objective for the business was to obtain
growth in key markets in Europe to ensure the Group
was not so reliant on the German market. Achievement
of this objective is on target, with dramatic growth
in the year well ahead of the market in all these
key regions:
| |
Group* |
Market
** |
|
| France |
+21% |
– 6% |
|
| UK/Ireland |
+14% |
– 4% |
|
| Nordic |
+9% |
–11% |
|
| International |
+10% |
–11% |
|
* by invoicing region
** Source: growth rates EMEA PC and Servermarket,
IDC 05/2
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