Bond.az - Softcat shares surged more than 9% on Friday after the British IT reseller raised its full-year profit guidance, citing continued strong growth driven by corporate demand for AI-enabled infrastructure.
The company said it delivered strong double-digit year-on-year growth in both gross profit and underlying operating profit in its third quarter.
"Growth remains broad-based with particular strength in corporate, supported by customer demand for AI-enabled infrastructure and continued pull forward of some orders due to memory shortages," the company stated.
The board now expects mid-teens growth in underlying operating profit for the full year, up from its previous guidance of high single-digit growth.
"There is no particular surprise in the direction of travel; the market was already ahead of company guidance," Jefferies' Charles Brennan said, noting current consensus expectations of roughly 10%.
"However, the magnitude implies further 4-5% upside," he added.
"While this is an encouraging message, as always the debate is how to extrapolate this to FY27. The Softcat style is to lean on pulled forward orders to restrain FY27 upgrades. Whether consensus, which is starting to move ahead of conservative company messaging, will agree remains to be seen."
Looking ahead, Softcat said it is encouraged by business momentum and prospects for further market share gains, while flagging uncertainty from ongoing memory shortages and the broader macroeconomic environment.
