Softcat's shares rise more than 9% — demand for AI infrastructure accelerates growth

Softcat Stock Surges on Improved Profit Outlook

British IT reseller Softcat saw its shares rise more than 9% on Friday after the company upgraded its annual profit forecast.

The company announced that in the third quarter, both total profit and operating profit grew at double-digit rates, primarily driven by demand from corporate clients for artificial intelligence-based infrastructure.

Demand for AI-enabled infrastructure was particularly strong, further boosted by increased advance orders due to memory chip shortages.

With the company's new forecast, operating profit is expected to show average growth for the year, representing a significant improvement over the previous guidance.

According to analysts' assessment, the market has already partially "priced in" this improvement; however, the scale of the change still leaves potential for an additional 4-5% upside.

According to Charles Brennan, despite the positive signals, the key question remains: how much of this growth will translate to the 2027 financial year, as the company may have partly simply brought forward future orders to the current period.

According to Softcat's management, the company has strong business momentum and market share growth potential, though uncertainty remains due to memory shortages and the global economic environment.