If only…
Softcat (LSE: SCT) provides public and private bodies with IT infrastructure, including data centres, networking and security systems. “Very favourable” market conditions and sustained customer demand led the chief executive to predict in a July trading update that full-year earnings would be better than expectations. Revenue in the six months to January 2018 was up by 24% year-on-year, with gross profit up by 22%. Shareholders have been rewarded with a 100% increase in the share price over the past 12 months.
Be glad you didn’t…
Up Global Sourcing (LSE: UPGS) is the designer, developer and licensee of several mass-market consumer brands, including Salter and Russell Hobbs. Rising cost of imports – it sources many of its goods in China – caused by the post-referendum slide in sterling dampened consumer confidence; the consequent slide in discretionary spending led to a 29% fall in revenue for the six months to the end of January, after an “exceptionally strong” first half of 2017. Full-year profits are in line with expectations, but the share price has fallen more than 60% in the past year.