Northamber sales down 9% in Q1

17th Nov 2009 15:56

Computer hardware firm Northamber has suffered a 9% drop in first quarter sales and warned that the outlook continues to be difficult to assess.It said the negative trends discussed at its interim results in September "continued to challenge commercial intentions".The sales decline in the three months to 30 September was consistent with the reported slower pick-up in the UK IT market.But it did say the latent impact of the new franchises are expected to show an impact later in the year, while gross margin held up reasonably well, down just a quarter of a point year-on-year."The continuing impact of very low interest rates on our very strong net cash position is considerable," the group added. "The net result was a small loss but less than the corresponding period last year and for what is traditionally our weakest quarter.""The sector as a whole continues to experience challenging and difficult times, and we are similarly affected by those prevailing conditions and the outlook continues to be difficult to assess."