Europe Movers: Computercenter, Deezer, Essentra, SThree, Swatch Group

Inga Muller
20 Mar, 2025
Frankfurt

Computacenter Plc. surged 2.1% to 2.644 pence after the information technology and services provider reported higher revenue in 2024.

Revenue increased 2.9% to £6.96 billion from £6.92 billion, profit declined to £170.8 million from £197.6 million, and diluted earnings per share fell 11.7% to 152.9 pence from 173.2 pence a year ago.

Profit before tax dropped 10.1% to £244.6 million from £272.1 million a year earlier.

The North American market accounted for nearly a quarter of the group's adjusted operating profit in 2024.

The company increased its dividend per share to 70.7 pence from 70.0 pence a year ago, payable on July 4 to shareholders on record as of June 6, and the shares will be marked ex-dividend on June 5.

As of the end of December 2024, the company had distributable dividend reserves of £319.8 million, compared to £474.1 million a year earlier.

Computacenter completed a £200 million share buyback program in October, and the company had distributed almost £1 billion of capital to shareholders since 2013.

The company guided for 2025 central costs, including group-wide investments, to be between £50 million and £55 million, an adjusted effective tax rate between 29.5% and 31.5%, and a dividend cover of 2-2.5x adjusted diluted earnings per share.

In 2024, total central corporate costs increased by 16.2% to £50.9 million from £43.8 million in 2023.

“In 2024, we spent £36.8 million on strategic corporate initiatives as we continued our investment in new systems, toolsets, and cyber resilience. This compared to £28.1 million in 2023, which in turn was almost double the spend in 2022,” the company said in a release to investors.

SThree Plc. eased 0.5% to 275.00 pence after the UK-based specialist staffing company reported lower sales in 2024.

Revenue declined to £1.49 billion from £1.66 billion, profit edged down to £49.69 million from £56.05 million, and diluted earnings per share fell to 37.1 pence from 41.5 pence a year ago.

Same-store sales dropped 8% in the year.

The company proposed a final dividend of 9.2 pence per share for 2024, down from 11.6 pence per share in 2023.

During the year, SThree paid a final dividend of 11.6 pence per share for a total of £15.86 million, compared to 11.0 pence per share for a total of £27.37 million in 2023.

Swatch Group gained 1.3% to CHF 167.00 after the luxury watches and jewelry retailer reported results for 2024.

Net sales dropped to CHF 6.73 billion from CHF 7.89 billion, net income edged down to CHF 193 million from CHF 869 million, and diluted earnings per share fell to CHF 0.75 from CHF 3.35 a year ago.

Net sales in the watches and jewelry segment accounted for CHF 6.41 billion, and the company’s electronic systems division marked CHF 316 million.

Sales in Asia led all other regions with net sales of CHF 3.55 billion, down from CHF 4.43 billion in 2023.

“Demand in China will continue to be rather restrained. The expectation is that the habits and behavior of Chinese consumers will continue to change, which will open up plenty of new opportunities for the strongly positioned brands,” the company said in a release to investors.

The company’s costs for research and development amounted to CHF 273 million in the year, representing 4.1% of net sales, compared to CHF 275 million, or 3.5% of net sales, in 2023.

Swatch proposed a dividend of CHF 0.90 per share for a total of CHF 105 million, compared to a dividend of CHF 1.30 per share for a total of CHF 152 million a year ago.

Essentra Plc. slumped 5.9% to 108.80 pence after the UK-based provider of plastic injection-molded, vinyl-dip-molded, and metal items reported results for 2024.

Revenue declined to £302.4 million from £316.3 million, profit jumped to £10.6 million from £5.4 million, and diluted earnings per share climbed to 3.7 pence from 1.8 pence a year ago.

The company proposed a final dividend of 1.55 pence per share, down from 2.4 pence in 2023, payable on July 3 to shareholders on record as of May 16, with the ex-dividend date on May 15.

Essentra’s share repurchase program announced in February 2023 remains in progress, and as of the end of December 2024, a total of 16,387,728 shares had been purchased at an average price of 176.4 pence per share, totaling £28.9 million.

Of the shares purchased, 4,198,821 were transferred into treasury, and 12,188,907 had subsequently been cancelled, which represented 4.0% of the issued share capital of the company, excluding treasury shares, when the program commenced.

Deezer SA dropped 8% to €1.37 after the music platform operator reported results for 2024.

Revenue increased to €541.71 million from €484.66 million, net loss shrank to €25.89 million from €57.67 million, and diluted loss per share narrowed to 21 cents from a loss of 47 cents a year ago.