Bell Micro on upswing with positive Q3 financials

Distributor's SEC woes are firmly behind it as it gets back to black

Bell's revenue powered up nine per cent quarter on quarter

Bell Micro is back on the road to profitability and logged sequential growth in its third quarter.

The distributor revealed Q3 turnover – for the three months ended 30 September 2009 – of $765.2m (£461m), compared to $782.1m in the same quarter in 2008. On a sequential basis, turnover grew nine per cent.

Net Q3 profit stood at $1.7m, compared to a net loss of $28.3m in the same quarter a year ago, and a loss of $3m in Q2 2009.

Europe accounted for 39 per cent of total revenue in Q3, with net sales of $299.6m, a sequential increase of two per cent. Compared to 2008, European net sales dropped about eight per cent.

Don Bell, chief executive of Bell, said: “We are pleased with the improvement in our revenue and profitability for the quarter. The sequential sales growth of nine per cent was the strongest quarterly growth we have experienced recently and was primarily the result of increased demand for our products, combined with excellent execution by our team.

"Sales increased in both our distribution and single-tier businesses in North America and we are experiencing what we believe is a firming of the market in both Europe and Latin America. We are approaching 2010 with increased market optimism, a revitalised management team and a more streamlined company focused on growing our business profitably,” he said.

Total debt has dropped eight per cent to $353.9m, with cash increasing seven per cent to $24.4m and the company stressed it is in compliance with all financial covenants of its banking agreements.