By Simon Quicke
26 June 2008
Those studying the markets for signs of a downturn will have found evidence to back both sides of the argument with a mixed set of results from companies connected with the channel.
Open source specialist Red Hat announced results for its first quarter ended 31 May with revenue increasing by 32% from the year before to $156.6m. Subscription revenue also increased to $130.7m.
Ian Smith, chief executive at Xploite, was able to sound bullish as it returned to the black after last year’s losses. For the six months ended 30 April the channel player reported a large increase in turnover to £22.5m from £5.3m and pretax profits of £0.7m.
“The businesses we acquired last year are already showing good returns as our strategy of selective acquisitions followed by rapid integration is working well,” said Smith referring to the acquisition of three businesses under the Anix brand, which specialises in managed services.
The doom and gloom came PC World parent DSG International, which cited tough market conditions as the cause of a 30% drop in pre-tax profits for the year to 3 May. Profits for the year were £205.3m with sales of £8.5bn.
In a statement, John Browett, Chief Executive said it was overhauling the buwinss and expected those efforts to improve its performance: “We are revamping ranges, retraining staff, trialling new store formats, selling new services, cutting costs and simplifying the business from top to bottom.”
