SOFTCAT plc
(‘Softcat’, the ‘Group’)
Half year results for the six months to 31 January 2026
Exceptional first half performance resulting in full year guidance upgrade
Softcat plc (LSE: SCT.L), a leading UK provider of IT infrastructure products and services, today announces its half year results for the six months to 31 January 2026 (‘the period’). These results reflect another period of successful execution and strategic progress, delivering exceptional growth in gross profit and underlying operating profit alongside robust cash generation and investments to drive future growth. This first half performance was driven by broad-based growth and enables us to upgrade underlying operating profit guidance for the full year.
Financial Summary
| Six months ended | |||
| 31 January 2026 £m | 31 January 2025 £m | Change | |
| Gross invoiced incomea | 2,008.6 | 1,507.1 | 33.3% |
| Gross profit | 269.9 | 220.2 | 22.6% |
| Underlying operating profita | 93.8 | 73.7 | 27.3% |
| Underlying cash conversion (%)a | 147.6% | 110.9% | 36.7ppts |
| Underlying basic earnings per share (p) a | 36.1p | 28.7p | 25.8% |
| Interim dividend (p) | 9.9p | 8.9p | 11.2% |
| Statutory measures | |||
| Revenue b | 837.5 | 545.6 | 53.5% |
| Operating profit | 85.2 | 73.7 | 15.6% |
| Basic earnings per share (p) | 32.8p | 28.7p | 14.3% |
Highlights for the six months to 31 January 2026
- Gross invoiced income growth of 33.3% reflects strong, broad-based performance and the contribution from larger solutions projects, together with a pull forward of some customer orders due to memory shortages.
- Strong double-digit gross profit growth of 22.6%, delivered by good progress across all technologies and customer groups, with exceptional performance from the corporate segment.
- The performance was underpinned by our investments over the last few years in headcount, capabilities, systems and data, and we continue to further modernise our operations, with a current focus on data and digital projects, new sales and HR systems, and investment in our people and office network.
- Outstanding underlying operating profita growth of 27.3% reflects the gross profit over-delivery coupled with further investment into the business.
- Statutory operating profit of £85.2m, up 15.6% vs. PY, including £8.5m of non-underlying costs recognised during the period, mainly relating to systems investment.
- Underlying cash conversiona of 147.6%, with closing net cash and cash equivalents of £206.0m (H1 FY2025: £141.0m).
- Interim ordinary dividend of 9.9p, up 11.2% in line with progressive policy, alongside a £45m share buyback programme, which completed in February.
- Outlook: We now expect high single-digit growth in underlying operating profit in FY2026, up from low single-digit previously.
Graham Charlton, Softcat CEO, commented,
“Softcat delivered terrific progress in the first half, with growth in gross profit and underlying operating profit well ahead of expectations alongside excellent cash generation. This reflects the benefits of ongoing investment in our offering over the past few years, as well as sharp execution during the current period, and the benefits we are seeing on customer demand for AI enabled infrastructure and our own operational transformation. The trusted advice and exceptional customer service we provide, underpinned by the broadest and deepest technical skills and capabilities in our market, have never been more relevant and I’m delighted with the momentum we’re carrying into the second half.
AI is reshaping customer priorities at pace, and organisations of all sizes are now prioritising the building of the data, infrastructure and security foundations needed to deploy it effectively and at scale. Given the breadth of our offering, these trends play directly to our strengths, with AI increasing customer demand across storage and compute, through the network and onto devices, as well as creating the need for greater security and governance. We are further benefitting from the acquisition of Oakland which has improved our capability in data, automation and AI consulting, enabling us to engage earlier in customers’ transformation journeys.
The strength of our performance enables us to invest in our own systems, data and digital platforms. This is a journey we began several years ago to transform our operations, putting us in prime position as advances in data analytics and AI open up significant business model transformation opportunities.
The market is still only in the early stages of the AI adoption cycle, creating significant long-term opportunities for Softcat. With a compelling proposition aligned to the technologies that matter to our customers, and with the skills and capabilities demanded by our vendors, we remain in the very best position to deliver sustainable growth and further market share gains.”
Outlook
Underlying operating profit growth in the first six months of the financial year is ahead of the Board’s expectations, reflecting strong underlying business performance augmented by pull forward of some customer orders due to memory shortages.
While we enter the next half of our financial year with good momentum, we face a tougher comparative due to the contribution from larger solutions projects in the second half of FY2025. In addition, the net impact of ongoing memory shortages in this next period remains uncertain.
As a result, our expectations are now for high single-digit growth in underlying operating profit in FY2026, up from low single-digit previously.
a See page 12 for full definitions and further reconciliations of Alternative Performance Measures (APMs).
b Revenue is reported under IFRS 15, the international accounting standard for revenue. IFRS 15 requires judgements be made to determine whether Softcat acts as principal or agent in certain trading transactions. These judgements, coupled with slight variations of business model and contractual arrangements between IT Solutions Providers, means the impact of IFRS 15 across the peer group is not uniform. Income prior to the IFRS 15 adjustment is referred to as gross invoiced income, which is an APM.