Softcat lifts full-year guidance after ‘exceptional’ first half

Softcat lifted its full-year guidance on Wednesday following an "exceptional" first half.

The company, which provides IT infrastructure products and services, now expects high single-digit growth in underlying operating profit for FY 2026, up from low single-digit previously.

The upgrade came as it reported a 27.3% increase in underlying operating profit to £93.8m for the six months to the end of January, ahead of the board’s expectations, while gross invoiced income jumped 33% to £2bn.

Softcat said this reflected a strong, broad-based performance and the contribution from larger solutions projects, together with a pull forward of some customer orders due to memory shortages.

Underlying basic earnings per share rose 25.8% to 36.1p and the interim dividend was lifted to 9.9p a share from 8.8p in the same period a year earlier.

The company hailed good progress across all technologies and customer groups, with an "exceptional" performance from the corporate segment.

"The performance was underpinned by our investments over the last few years in headcount, capabilities, systems and data, and we continue to further modernise our operations, with a current focus on data and digital projects, new sales and HR systems, and investment in our people and office network," it said.

Chief executive Graham Charlton said: "The market is still only in the early stages of the AI adoption cycle, creating significant long-term opportunities for Softcat.

"With a compelling proposition aligned to the technologies that matter to our customers, and with the skills and capabilities demanded by our vendors, we remain in the very best position to deliver sustainable growth and further market share gains."

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