IT firm Computacenter said on Thursday its first-half adjusted profit would be ahead of market expectations, helped by growth in its contractual services business and significant cost cuts.

The company said it was confident about growing its contractual services business in the second half, but said a return to growth in capital expenditure on IT equipment across its geography was unlikely.

Panmure Gordon analyst George O’Connor raised his price target on the company’s stock to 240 pence from 236 pence, and retained a “buy” rating.

In the six months ended June 30, overall revenue fell by 3 percent. On a constant currency basis, it declined 8 percent.

“The trading environment remains very challenging and neither Computacenter nor its customers are immune. It is therefore no surprise that our product sales are down in the period,” Chief Executive Mike Norris said in a statement.

Annual service contract base rose 11 percent to 510 million pounds ($820 million), based on constant currency.

Computacenter’s German unit signed one of its largest managed services contracts to date, which will start in the second half, but will not make a significant contribution to the business until 2010, the company said.

Computacenter said the majority of its planned cost reductions in the UK have taken place, which, along with the exiting of trade distribution, will have a positive effect on margins.

Computacenter ended the sale of PCs, laptops and printers in November, choosing instead to focus on the higher-margin server, storage and networking sectors.

The company’s shares, whose value has more than doubled in the year to date, were up 2 pence at 208.5 pence by 0916 GMT on the London Stock Exchange. They touched a high of 212 pence earlier in the session.

Public sector VAR Northgate Information Solutions has been entered into the Federation of Private Business’s (FPB’s) Hall of Shame for its “poor payment practices”.

Northgate wrote to suppliers last month informing them that, from July, it will be taking 60 days to settle invoices. They were given 10 working days to object.

The FPB branded the move “disappointing”, claiming it will hit some of Northgate’s smaller suppliers.

Northgate has now been added to the FPB’s Hall of Shame, which already features corporate reseller Computacenter and high street giants such as Matalan and Argos.

One anonymous FPB member, who has seen his business payment terms doubled from 30 days by the move, expressed concern that large companies are bullying their smaller suppliers.

“I would be delighted if public opinion turned against this kind of behaviour before it’s too late,” they said. “Quite clearly, firms that have previously relied on credit from their banks are now relying on being paid promptly and will suffer greatly if they are not.

“The problem is that bigger companies have the muscle to be able to do this, whereas smaller suppliers have little bargaining power. We’re all in this together; they should get their finger out and stop this kind of behaviour.”

Northgate said in the letter that the 60-day timeframe was being introduced to ‘standardise’ payment terms across its supply base.

In response to the FPB’s move Northgate added that its own customers had extended payment terms recently and that it had had to pass on the arrangement to suppliers. It also stressed that suppliers had a choice of whether to accept the changes or not.

However, the FPB’s chief executive, Phil Orford, said: “Although we can sympathise with the company’s claim that it is not being paid on time by many of its public sector customers, it is disappointing that it is passing on these additional costs to its small suppliers, including members of the FPB.”

Orford added that the FPB had written to Northgate inviting it to sign up to the government’s Prompt Payment Code.

Bell Micro is one step closer to relisting on the stock market after completing another stage in its financial accounting restatement plans.

The distributor today filed its annual report for the years ended 31 December 2007 and 2008 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Turnover for 2008 stood at $3.6bn (£2.17bn), a drop of nine per cent from 2007 ($3.9bn), and net lossses stood at $74.8m due to goodwill impairments and professional fees in connection with accounting-related investigations and restatement. Net loss in 2007 was $72.1m.

Speaking to CRN, Graeme Watt, global distribution president at Bell Micro, said the firm is on track to file its first and second quarter 2009 financials by September.

“This means we will be current by September,” he said.

In the statement the company said its operating results have “improved dramatically” in 2009, having realised significant reductions in professional fees, goodwill impairments, other operating expenses and foreign exchange losses compared with 2008 levels.

Watt said the firm was “definitely through the worst” and can start to raise its head above the parapet and look at relisting.

“We are much leaner and fitter coming out of this now and the costs of this process are in pretty sharp decline. We can now throw all our energy into delivering a forward-looking strategy,” he said. “I would also like to take the opportunity to thank and recognise our extremely strong relationship with both banks and suppliers. This has been extremely important to us and will remain important going forward.

“We have been looking forward to this moment for quite a while,” he said.

Don Bell, chief executive of Bell, said in a statement: “We are pleased to have a difficult restatement and audit process and to return our attention to growing our business profitably. The process has been thorough, and we have made significant improvement to our financial controls and processes.

“We plan to resume our regular on time SEC Form 10-Q filing schedule in the third quarter. Coupled with being up to date on Q1 and Q2, this will take us one step closer to our goal of relisting on a national stock exchange. I would like to thank the many diligent Bell employees who have contributed to the resolution of these issues, and all of our employees for their continued execution during a challenging period.”

Looking forward, Bell said: “Bell Micro remains committed to its objective of being one of the leading suppliers of computing and storage systems, subsystems and components globally. We can now focus on executing our business plan and realising our company’s potential. Our focus on computing and storage solutions for the broad market, as well as selected vertical markets including medical, video, security and surveillance, and telecom, ideally positions us for future profitable growth. We remain committed to our goal of achieving two per cent pre-tax profits, and we will strive to achieve this objective in 2010.”

Autodesk has become the latest vendor to launch a finance programme for UK end users.

Autodesk Finance, which is being rolled out by leasing outfit Syscap, will provide finance for the full range of the CAD software vendor’s 80 products.

It is Autodesk’s first UK finance programme.

Syscap said the availability of leasing finance would help boost sales among Autodesk’s manufacturing and engineering client base.

Philip White, chief executive of Syscap, said: “Autodesk Finance will for the first time allow manufacturers to invest in new productivity enhancing technology without having to bear the entire cost upfront. This will mean that they can pay for the investment as they are deriving real cost saving benefits.”

The scheme will launch with a range of promotions, including introductory payment holidays and special low rates of finance.

LONDON (ShareCast) - Bridgepoint, the private equity owner of Pets At Home, is said to have held preliminary talks with banks about a £700m flotation of the UK’s biggest pet products retailer.

The Sunday Times reported that Bridgepoint
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has held talks with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - news) , JP Morgan Cazenove, NM Rothschild and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the past two weeks about the possible timing and valuation for a float.

However, no final decision has yet been made on whether the group will float or sell the business, according to the paper.

A float could trigger a windfall for its owners, who bought the pet products chain for £230m in 2004.

Pets at Home’s pre-tax profits were up 29% to to £39.9m in the last financial year.

There is no evidence that new arrivals in the UK are able to jump council housing queues, an Equality and Human Rights Commission report says.

Once they settle and are entitled to help, it adds, the same proportion live in social housing as UK-born residents.

The prime minister has said the law will change so that local people get priority for social housing in England.

EHRC chairman Trevor Phillips blamed a “failure of social housing supply” for concerns that migrants jumped queues.

‘Perceptions are powerful’

The report - based on figures from the 2007 Labour Force Survey - was carried out by the centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research think tank.

According to the study, 64% of people who arrived in the UK within the last five years live in private rented accommodation.

Just 11% of new arrivals get help with housing - almost all of them asylum seekers.

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Views on council housing: “Local people get nothing”

But after five years, when many immigrants are able to get residency and become entitled to government help, one in six live in social housing - exactly the same proportion as those who were born in Britain.

Mr Phillips said the government and social housing providers needed to work together to address the issues that resulted in perceptions about immigrants benefitting unfairly.

He added: “We have to recognise that people’s perceptions are powerful, so it’s vital that social housing providers and policy makers work to foster understanding about what is really happening on the ground.

“Much of the public concern about the impact of migration on social housing has, at its heart, the failure of social housing supply to meet the demands of the population.

“The poorer the area, the longer the waiting lists, therefore the greater the tension.”

On 29 June, the prime minister told MPs he wanted to allow councils in England to give additional preference to locals.

That was seen as a broadside the British National Party, which has claimed immigrants are able to get more help with housing.

But the Conservatives have said the measure would be illegal under existing law and the forthcoming Equality Bill.

CNN is featuring a short survey to help you determine your level of financial health. The result is presented in a form of a grade from F to A+. My result was an A; I lost points for not having any life insurance. The survey does not ask if there are any dependents. Right now, I am the only person depending on my income for survival.

The survey questions visitors about annual income and your age in order to determine the healthy expectations for the other categories. For the highest score, your monthly housing payments should not exceed 28% of your gross income. That’s almost unheard of for many people who purchased houses in the past few years. Monthly debt payments should not exceed 36% of your gross income. CNN further suggests three months’ worth of expenses in a high-yield savings account. The editors also subscribe to the rule of thumb that suggests the percent of your portfolio invested in stocks should be 120 minus your age.

Also related to diversification, you will lose points if you have more than 10% invested in your employer’s stock. For life insurance, a category where I failed according to CNN’s algorithm, you should have enough coverage to provide a replacement for your income for at least 5 years, 10 years if you have multiple dependents. The survey asks about your contributions to and balance of your retirement account. If the combination of the two, while taking your age into account, results in a favorable outcome as judged by CNN, you will pass this question.

Here are my results.

Take the survey here and share your results!

I’m pointing out a recent article featuring advice from Walter Updegrave, a senior editor of Money Magazine. Recently, he was asked to quantify the percentage of income that any individual should save in order for this particular action to be considered “financially responsible.” Normally, the advice I’ve seen suggests a rate somewhere between 10% and 20% of income, so I was expecting Updegrave’s advice to head in that direction.

Rather than providing a hard percentage, Updegrave took a more nuanced approach.

Well, as much as I’d like to be able to tell you to save 10%, 15% or whatever and you’ll be fine, it’s impossible for me to do that without knowing a whole lot more about you. The percentage of income that’s appropriate for you will depend on your income, age, the amount of money you’ve already saved, your employment prospects and, most important, how much you’re willing to forego immediate gratification for current and future financial security.

It is good to see writers admitting that personal finance advice is not one-size-fits-all rather than going for the knowledge-nugget. Knowledge-nuggets are like those chicken nuggets at that fast-food restaurant with the yellow double arch-shaped letter. They’re tasty, but not very healthy, and you get sick of them after about 25.

Every individual is surrounded by a unique situation, and that should be reflected in personal finance advice.

Tips on the other hand can be general enough to apply to a large swath of individuals. Updegrave answers the reader’s question as best as possible without knowing anything about the individual, but then leads into a few savings tips that are applicable to just about everyone: Start building an emergency fund (and here are 50 tips for building one), be serious about investing for retirement, and find additional ways to save such as automating your savings.

If nothing else, saving 10% of your income is a good start if you’re not saving anything, and saving 20% of your income is a good next step if you’re saving 10%.

3 steps to financial security: Save, save, save, Walter Updegrave, Money Magazine, April 30, 2009

What Percentage of Income Should Be Saved to Be Financially Responsible?

The following timeline and details will be updated as the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights and related bills progress through Congress, and if they pass, as they make their way to the President to be signed into law. Visit this article often for the latest information and to read the current versions of the bills as they are amended, voted upon, and revised.

Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Reverse Timeline

April 30, 2009: The House of Representatives passes the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (H.R.627) with a bipartisan vote of 357 to 70.
February 11, 2009: The Credit Card Act of 2009 (S.414) is introduced in the Senate
January 22, 2009: H.R.627 is introduced in the House.
January 14, 2009: The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (S.235) is introduced in the Senate.

Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Details

As of April 30, 2009, the House of Representatives has passed a bill commonly called the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009. This bill goes a long way to end some deceprive practices used by credit card companies to lure and trap consumers into expensive debt. While many of the problems resulting from these practices can be avoided by using credit wisely or not at all and adjusting your expectations to assume that the companies only care about their bottom line, not their customers, not all the blame can be placed on the consumer.

Thus, the government is stepping in with this effort to protect credit card users from practices such as abrupt rate increases, retroactive rate increases, and double-cycle billing, a situation in which customers are charged interest even after the last monthly bill to include charges for spending is fully paid off.

Here are some interesting points included in the House version of the bill.

• Credit card issuers will be required to maintain low introductory rates for at least six months.
• Issuers must warn consumers if they are spending close to their credit limit, allowing them to avoid a penalty.
• Issuers cannot charge customers a fee for paying their bill over the phone or online.

The law will go into effect one year after it is signed by the President or July 2010, which ever comes first.

The Senate is considering its own Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, as well as a Credit Card Act that will toughen the restrictions on credit card issuers further.

A similar bill passed the house last year but did not get much further. This year, chances of success are much higher.

Read the current version of the House’s Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, H.R.627 (April 27, 2009)

Read the current version of the Senate’s Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, S.235 (January 14, 2009)

Also, read the current version of the Senate’s Credit Card Act of 2009, S.414 (February 11, 2009)

U.S. House acts to protect credit card users, Reuters, April 30, 2009

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009

An unexpected 25% surge in personal thefts and a 4% increase in burglaries are recorded in the first set of official quarterly crime figures since the economic recession took hold.

A worrying rise in what the Home Office calls “stealth and snatch thefts” is accompanied by a 5% increase in robberies at knifepoint, according to the police-recorded crime figures published today comparing October to December 2008 with the same period in 2007.

The figures show a 16% drop in gun crime and a fall in the number of people stabbed to death from 59 to 52 over the same period. They record that the increase in robberies at knifepoint occurred within the context of an overall 2% fall in the total number of street robberies.

Overall there was a 4% drop in offences recorded by the police. The British Crime Survey, which is based on a survey of 40,000 people’s experience of crime, shows that the volume of all types of offences , including violent crime, remained broadly stable during 2008.

The figures contain the first confirmation of Home Office projections that the economic recession and rise in unemployment are likely to be accompanied by an increase in some types of crime, particularly involving theft of property and burglary. The 4% rise in burglary, including domestic burglary, last winter comes on top of a similar increase between July and September and marks the end of a sustained 55% decline in burglary since the mid-1990s.

Home Office statisticians said the 25% rise in personal thefts reported by the British Crime Survey was statistically significant but it was too early to say whether it indicated a change in recent trends. They pointed out that it was not reflected in the police crime figures or other BCS categories of personal acquisitive crime.

The Association of Police Authorities described it as a “worrying development” that would be closely monitored so that any correlation with the economic downturn could be established and action taken.

The Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said: “We know that we are facing some new challenges now and are focusing our experience and knowledge to tackle these head-on.” He said ministers were already working with police, charities, DIY stores and insurers to target repeat burglars and help people secure their homes.