Azlan figures buck US downturn

Network distributor Azlan has reported strong results for its financial year ended 31 March 2001 after its products, services and training businesses all demonstrated healthy growth.

Network distributor Azlan has reported strong results for its financial year ended 31 March 2001 after its products, services and training businesses all demonstrated healthy growth.

The company's pre-tax profit reached £16.1m, 75 per cent more than the previous year. Turnover was £592m, 44 per cent up on the year before.

Chief executive Peter Bertram said that Europe has yet to be hit by the economic slowdown, and Azlan's pan-European operation has meant that the US slowdown has not had an impact. "We operate in 15 European countries where most commentators would agree that there is productive growth," he said.

Ian Kilpatrick, group managing director at fellow distributor Wick Hill, agreed. "We find efficiencies of scale because we operate in the UK and in Germany, and it enables us to service customers in a much wider area," he said. "We often find ourselves running counter-cyclical to the US."

However, Azlan executives said the company recognised that a more "cautious economic environment" was developing, and said it would plan operations accordingly.

While some distributors have seen their services grow in importance over their product businesses, Azlan said its product business profit had grown to £37.4m from £10.3m in the same period last year.

"Margins have been under pressure, but we are not severely affected because our overheads are low. We only have one warehouse, and we use a single computer system for pan-European logistics," said Bertram.

"Our product business is a big proportion of our turnover and it will continue to grow alongside our services and training arms. All three businesses are essential because we provide solutions to our partners."

The product business creates the lion's share of Azlan's turnover at £526m. Its training and services arms made £46.9m and £18.8m respectively.

Also published in Computer Reseller News