cut staff, provide almost non-existent or extremely poor offshore service, then wonder why people aren't signing up for more
I suspect that IBM are knowingly "adjusting their customer portfolio". Put simply, some customers pay a lot, ask little, and are highly profitable. Some ask a lot, have a bargain basement deal that they've managed not to screw up with variations, and provide little profit. IBM know exactly who makes them money, and I believe are happily surrendering low margin customers when their deal comes up for renewal.
That looks like decline because the top line goes down, and often there is an impairment charge on dedicated assets. In this case, if you follow the link to the Companies House accounts you'll see that the operating profit increased by a very impressive 180% from £65m to £182m. I would suggest that when these results became clear, the champagne was being broken out at IBM UK Towers.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
