 | |
| Formerly | Computacenter Services Group plc (1995–1998)[1] |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder | |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people |
|
| Revenue |  £6,964.8 million (2024)[2] |
 £237.9 million (2024)[2] | |
| £171.9 million (2024)[2] | |
Number of employees | 20,000 (2025)[3] |
| Website | www |
Computacenter plc is a Britishmultinational that provides information technology services to public- and private-sector customers. It is aUK company based inHatfield,Hertfordshire. The company is listed on theLondon Stock Exchange and is a constituent of theFTSE 250 Index.
Computacenter was founded in the UK in 1981 byPhilip Hulme andPeter Ogden.[4] In 1990, it openedEurope's largestPC outlet; in 1991, it was listed byThe Independent newspaper as one of the fastest growing independent companies in the UK and, by 1994, it had grown to become the largest privately owned IT company in the UK.[5] Computacenter was floated on theLondon Stock Exchange in May 1998.[6]
In 2006 the company extended its service facilities to include a new International Service Centre in Barcelona, Spain, and a customer help desk and remote management facility in Cape Town, South Africa. The services in Spain and Cape Town were enhanced when the company acquired Digica, which provides outsourcing and managed IT services to the corporate mid-market and thepublic sector, in January 2007,[7]and Allnet, which specialises in network integration and structured cabling services, in April 2007.[8]
The company bought the UK-based consulting firm TeamUltra in April 2017,[9] and Misco Solutions inAmstelveen in September 2018.[10] It expanded in North America with the acquisition of the California-based business Fusion Storm in October 2018,[11] and went to buy RD Trading (RDC), which specialises in IT disposal, in August 2019,[12] and the Canadian business Pivot Technology Solutions in September 2020.[13]
In March 2021, in a highly unusual procurement process, the company won contracts worth £241.5 million to supply laptops to disadvantaged children without anopen tender. The satirical magazinePrivate Eye noted that Hulme, who remained a significant shareholder in the company, was also a major donor to theConservative Party.[14][15]
A "significant security breach" took place in March 2023 when a Computacenter employee allowed his girlfriend, who was a Chinese citizen, into a server room atDeutsche Bank's headquarters in New York. The girlfriend was seen "physically touching" the servers. However, the manager who reported the issue was dismissed by the company in July 2023.[16][17][18]
The company is engaged in thesupply,implementation,support andmanagement ofinformation technology systems.[19]
Computacenter was a sponsor of theRenault Sport F1 Team.[20]
Computacenter has committed itself to the 10 core principles ofUnited Nations Global Compact.[21] Computacenter also helpedMarks & Spencer to meet its WEEE requirements and its 'Plan A' environmental objectives, sending zero IT waste from M&S head office to landfill by 2008.[22]
