Softcat full-year gross profit up nearly 25%, sees FY27 profit growth slowing

British IT reseller Softcat reported a significant increase in its gross profit, beating its own expectations for the year ending July 31. Their gross profit rose by 24.7% to £616.3 million, driven by strong performance across all technology areas and customer groups, along with exceptional corporate sales. Underlying operating profit grew by 19.4% to £215.1 million, while statutory operating profit increased by 13.6% to £196.4 million.

Gross invoiced income climbed by 30.5% to £4.72 billion, fueled by strong, broad-based sales and large-scale projects. Revenue increased by 35.4% to £1.98 billion. Softcat's management expressed satisfaction with the company's performance, noting that both gross profit and underlying operating profit growth exceeded expectations.

For the upcoming year, they anticipate slightly higher growth in underlying operating profit compared to gross profit, except for the contribution from the recently announced U.S. acquisition of GDT. The company's CEO, Graham Charlton, highlighted the ongoing discipline of customers in their investments and the growing importance of AI in IT infrastructure.

Basic earnings per share increased by 13.8% to 75.8 pence, while underlying basic earnings per share rose by 19.7% to 83.2 pence. The company proposed a final dividend of 21.6 pence, up by 5.9%, resulting in a full-year ordinary dividend of 31.5 pence, a 7.5% increase from the previous year. Softcat repaid £45 million in share buybacks during February 2026, returning a total of £137.5 million to shareholders.

At year-end, the company had a net cash position of £199.9 million, up from £182.3 million. However, underlying cash conversion declined slightly to 93.6%, down by 2 percentage points from the previous year.