Arrow boss hails 'exceptional year' for ECS

Michael Long says distributor successfully walked tightrope through changes in spending patterns last year

Arrow's Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS) arm delivered an "exceptional year" as it made the most of shifts in IT spending patterns, according to its chief executive.

Talking on a Q4 earnings call, Arrow boss Michael Long said the New York-listed distributor achieved record Q4 results, topping off an "outstanding 2014".

Arrow's Q4 sales rose four per cent on an annual comparison to $6.4bn (£4.3bn), with ECS growing by 3.3 per cent to $2.81bn and global components by 4.5 per cent to $3.59bn.

Total adjusted Q4 net profit rose to $184m, up from $172m year on year.

For the full year, Arrow saw total sales rise by 6.6 per cent to $22.8bn. Bolstered by $761m of extra revenues from acquired firms such as Computerlinks, Arrow ECS grew annual sales by 7.6 per cent to $8.46bn, while global components grew by 6.1 per cent to $14.3bn.

Total adjusted full-year net profit rose to $593m, up from $519m a year earlier.

"In the fourth quarter we produced record results, completing an outstanding year," Long said during the call, a transcript of which can be found here.

ECS's operating profit advanced by 12 per cent over the previous year, he said.

"Enterprise computing solutions delivered an exceptional year despite substantial changes in the IT spending patterns," he said. "CIOs are making security a top priority, while optimising their compute and storage requirements between on-premise datacentres, both hybrid and public cloud.

"We've aligned our business to capitalise on these changes."

Bolstered by Computerlinks, European ECS sales hiked by 16 per cent to $3.04bn for the year. Stripping out acquisitions and currency effects, European sales fell 2.4 per cent.

In Q4, European ECS sales slipped 6.1 per cent to $984m, although the decrease was just 2.6 per cent stripping out currency effects.