Avnet cautiously optimistic as sales beat expectations

Technology Solutions business grows three per cent in final quarter

Avnet's chief executive struck a cautiously positive tone as the VAD's quarterly results topped expectations.

The distributor, whose revenues have been flat in recent quarters, posted a 4.5 per cent annual jump in sales to $6.59bn in its final quarter of its fiscal year ending 29 June.

Adjusted net profit fell 6.5 per cent to $135.8m.

Avnet big cheese Rick Hamada said the Q4 numbers were above its original expectations and expressed optimism about the distributor's trajectory.

"Given that the substantial majority of our previously announced restructuring initiatives have been implemented, and we are beginning to see various positive signals on our dashboards, we plan to build on this most recent performance and sustain progress toward our long-term goals," he said.

Avnet's enterprise tech arm – Technology Solutions (TS) – saw revenues grow three per cent year on year to $2.62bn. Operating profit rose from $67.5m to $73.3m.

Avnet TS grew 18.3 per cent in EMEA, although its sales were down 1.3 per cent stripping out the contribution of recent acquisition of Magirus.

Avnet's Electronics Marketing arm saw revenues swell 5.5 per cent to $3.97bn.