Mobility drives sales spike at Ingram in Q3

Distie reports 'solid growth' in UK thanks to SMB push

A surge in popularity of mobile kit was partly behind rocketing revenue at Ingram Micro last quarter.

For the three months to 27 September, net profit at the global distie fell 8.5 per cent annually to $72.2m (£45m) on sales which grew 11 per cent over the same period to $11.2bn.

Its Technology and Solutions business saw sales rise five per cent annually to $9.3bn in Q3, but that was dwarfed by the growth in its mobility unit, where revenue shot up by 50 per cent year on year to $2bn.

In North America alone, mobility sales grew by 200 per cent, "significantly" helping the overall region's sales to grow by 20 per cent annually to $5.1bn.

Revenue growth was more modest in Europe, up nine per cent year on year to $3.2bn, but mobility was still a key performer, according to Ingram's chief financial officer William Humes.

"The region is benefiting from cost savings as a result of the initial implementation of our organisational effectiveness initiative, and we expect to see improvements in Europe's cost structure as we enter 2015," he said. "Europe Technology and Solutions revenue grew at mid-single digits in local currency.

"Solid growth in Germany, our largest country in the region, was led by strength in retail markets. Spain and Italy experienced robust growth, benefiting from double-digit increases in both SMB and retail. The UK had another solid quarter of growth in SMB.

"Europe Mobility delivered solid double-digit local currency revenue growth, led by strong smartphone sales in Germany across all leading vendor lines, primarily into retail markets."