Computacenter hikes profit outlook as orders grow on AI demand

Computacenter has hiked its annual profit outlook after reporting a record-high backlog of orders amid demand for AI infrastructure.Shares in the FTSE 100-listed business were up by about 7% on Monday morning following an update to investors.The technology provider said its financial performance in the third quarter had beaten expectations, with revenue from its technology sourcing division growing strongly.At the end of September, it said it had a record-high backlog of orders worth £12.6 billion, compared with £9.3 billion at the end of June, and a strong pipeline of opportunities.This meant bosses were now expecting to report an adjusted pre-tax profit for the year of at least £425 million – up from the £387 million that analysts had been forecasting.The stronger performance was primarily driven by “hyperscale and neocloud” customers in North America and the UK, it said.This captures the company’s work in delivering infrastructure projects like large data centres and AI cloud computing.Computacenter designs, sources and deploys IT infrastructure to companies around the world, including hardware and software components, data storage and connectivity.The company, which was promoted to the FTSE 100 from the FTSE 250 in June, previously said some of its customers were reprioritising their IT spending towards AI projects.This has led to increased demand for components that can power that work while supply shortages has also pushed up prices.Read MoreComponents have been in particularly high demand because of so-called hyperscalers – operators of huge data centres such as Amazon, Meta and Google.