Thanks for the memory, says Kingston
Financial results show lift in UK sales
Kingston Technology has revealed its regional financial results for the first time, revealing UK sales to be approaching the same level as in 2000, before the IT slowdown.
Kingston OEMs memory products to PC vendors and sells to system builders through distribution.
The company said that a combination of efficiencies and the introduction of its ValueRam packaged memory product for system builders in the first quarter of 2001 had contributed to its success.
European sales for 2003 are predicted to reach $350m this year out of an estimated global figure of $1.7bn. In the UK for the first half of 2003 the company shipped 48 per cent more products than in the same period last year.
UK Revenues for 2003 are expected to reach the 2000 level of over $60m.
Ann Keefe, UK sales director at Kingston, said: "Before ValueRam our only route to market was through branded PC makers. This gave us an extra route to market."
Andrew Henderson, managing director of distributor Simms, agreed that the move to the system builder channel has benefited Kingston.
"ValueRam has enabled Kingston to get into the growing white box market, which for us is about eight times bigger this year than last year, with most of this growth coming from new business," he said.
Keefe said not being listed on the stock exchange is an advantage. "In tough times, being a private firm we do not need to take knee-jerk actions, such as making redundancies, to keep shareholders happy," she said.