Avnet closes FY10 with a flourish
EMEA success drives broadliner to massive growth in sales and profit
Roy Vallee: the v-shaped cyclical recovery in the technology markets we serve continued this quarter
Distribution titan Avnet closed its 2010 fiscal year in fine style, boosting revenues by almost 40 per cent annually and emphatically reversing last year's losses.
Worldwide sales for the three months to 3 July rose 38.5 per cent year on year to more than $5.2bn. GAAP net income for the quarter stood at $141.1m, compared with a loss of $30.9m last year.
The distributor's Electronics Marketing unit grew Q4 sales by 46.9 per cent annually to $3.1bn, with operating income more than doubling to $173.8m. The EMEA region was the star performer, growing turnover by 50 per cent. Avnet chief executive, Roy Vallee, also claimed the region delivered a huge sequential improvement in gross margin.
Avnet Technology Solutions posted global Q4 revenue of $2.1bn, a 27.5 per cent increase on last year. Operating income rose more than 50 per cent to $62.2m.
Across the whole year, Avnet's worldwide sales grew 18.1 per cent to $19.6bn. The broadliner also posted GAAP net income of $410.4m, having endured a $1.1bn loss last year.
In the new year's opening quarter, the firm expects to post total sales of between $5.6bn and $6.2bn. Electronics Marketing is projected to deliver $3.35bn to $3.65bn, while Technology Solutions is forecast to post sales of between $2.25bn and $2.55bn. Vallee said his firm enters 2011 in fine fettle.
"The v-shaped cyclical recovery in the technology markets we serve continued this quarter with strong top-line performance across both groups and all regions," he said.
"Our value-based management discipline, which connects margins with working capital velocity throughout our business, resulted in return on working capital and return on capital employed above our stated financial targets. We enter fiscal 2011 prepared to build on our performance in fiscal 2010 as we begin to integrate the three acquisitions completed in July."