Arrow hits quarter one targets

But chief executive unsure as to whether market has hit its lowest point

DNS Arrow's UK headquarters

Distribution goliath Arrow Electronics is reserving judgment on whether the IT market has bottomed out after unveiling first quarter results in line with expectations.

Revenues for the three months to 4 April plunged 15 per cent year on year to $3.42bn (£2.3bn), or 18 per cent discounting the contribution of recent acquisition Logix.

Net profits stood at $26.7m - less than a third of last year’s figure - but chief executive William Mitchell said the New York-listed company had “executed well” during the quarter.

“Our visibility remains extremely limited, and we are not prepared to call a bottom yet,” he added.

Arrow’s Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS) arm held up better than its components division, Arrow Global Components. ECS revenues fell just three per cent year on year to $1.07bn, or by 13 per cent discounting Logix.

“We continue to see the integration of Logix in Europe going well, as sales in this region came in ahead of expectations due to strong performance in the UK and southern Europe,” Mitchell explained.

Global components sales fell by a fifth to $2.35bn, with Arrow citing weakness in Europe and North America.

Chief financial officer Paul Reilly was vague about predictions for the coming quarter.

“Looking ahead, we believe that total second quarter sales will be between $3.15bn and $3.7bn, with global component sales between $2bn and $2.4bn and global enterprise computing solutions sales between $1.15bn and $1.3bn,” he said.