IT services business Computacenter (CCC) has unveiled plans to return approximately £100m to shareholders before Christmas. The pledge will see shareholders receive approximately 83p per share on top of the 23.6p ordinary dividend forecast for the year to 31 December 2017.

A payment of this scale was predicted by analysts nearly a year ago, as reported by Shares on 27 October 2016.

Computacenter, which supplies and manages PCs, laptops and IT applications for hundreds of businesses in the UK and Europe, has made the gesture after bumper half year results.

The figures for the six months to 30 June show a 9% increase in revenue to £1.7bn and pre-tax profit more than doubling to £47.5m, before one-off costs.

The results also show a welcome return to growth for its UK arm, which has struggled to make progress for several years.

Positive free cash flow of £2m also shows a substantial improvement after absorbing £9m in the first half of last year, leaving a mammoth £137m of net cash on the books.

‘We have never been more optimistic about the market’s potential, as customers invest capital, digitalise their businesses and require support to reduce their long-term operating costs,’ explains chief executive officer Mike Norris.

‘The second half looks to continue the momentum, although growth rates won’t be as strong, given a tougher comparable period,’ cautions Indraneel Arampatta, analyst at IT consultant Megabuyte.

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