Westcon gets that floating feeling
Second IPO attempt for distributor
Three years after it abandoned an initial public offering (IPO), Westcon Group hopes to float on the Nasdaq stock market to raise about $115m.
The distributor filed a prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 12 January 2001, but withdrew it just four days later, probably because of an adverse market.
Keith Humphreys, managing consultant at EuroLAN Research, said: "An IPO now would give it some cash for acquisitions. I'd expect the company to make acquisitions in southern and eastern Europe as a result."
Westcon would not comment on acquisitions or listings.
According to the distributor's S-1 preliminary prospectus, filed with the SEC and seen by CRN, Cisco contributed 55 per cent of its worldwide revenues in the nine months ended 30 November, up from 52 per cent in fiscal 2003.
Westcon's gross margins fell from 11.1 per cent in its fiscal year 2001 to 8.5 per cent in the nine months to 30 November.
In the nine months ended 30 November, Westcon Europe made a gross profit of $50.5m on sales of $520.6m. In total, the company recorded sales of $1.2bn and profits of $116.4m for the period.
Rachel Power, an analyst at Canalys, said: "Assuming the listing comes to fruition, this is a positive step. It will give more transparency to what Westcon does, as well as more cash.
"An IPO usually precedes acquisition and expansion, and Westcon in the UK is particularly well placed for the convergence market."