Exertis operating profits down 28.8pc to £35 million

Parent company DCC said the decline was due to slowdown of growth in market

Exertis saw its operating profits decline year-on-year from over £49 million to £35 million for the year ending March 31 2016.

The financials were released today (March 17) by its parent company DCC. Revenue, however, did increase by 3.9 per cent from £2.350 billion to over £2.4 billion.

Exertis claimed the decrease was caused by ‘a reduction in sales from one large supplier’ and a slowdown of growth in the market. DCC did not reveal the name of the supplier. It said in the financial release: “The UK business was materially affected by a reduction in sales of products from one large supplier and also by weaker than anticipated demand for tablet computing, smartphone and gaming products.

“These factors contributed to a like-for-like sales decline of 7%. Although the business achieved growth in other areas such as audio visual and components, the change in product mix, together with the effects of negative operating leverage, contributed to a reduction in operating margin in the UK.”

Revenue and operating profit across the entire group was more positive, however. Revenue increased year-on-year from £2.9 billion to £3 billion. Operating profit increased 35.5 per cent from £221.7 million to £300.5 million.