Sales slumps for Avnet and Ingram

Both disties offer M&A udpates on earnings calls, as Ingram prepares to be swallowed by HNA and Avnet gears up to sell TS unit to Tech Data

Avnet and Ingram Micro both endured declining annual sales during their most recent quarters, as they gear up to complete their respective M&A activity.

In Ingram's Q3, which ended 1 October, net profits jumped 21 per cent annually to $78.5m (£64.4m) on sales which were down three per cent over the same period to $10.2bn.

Ingram announced in February that it will be acquired by Chinese giant HNA Group, and as such, the firm did not hold a Q3 earnings call or provide a financial outlook.

But its CEO Alain Monié did say the third quarter had been seen "robust improvement in gross and operating margins".

"We see further stabilisation in market demand across most of the globe and our teams continue to leverage our investments in productivity and services to deliver improved bottom-line results and growth in a number of areas as we benefit from the broadest solutions portfolio and widest geographic reach in the industry," he added.

The acquisition by HNA is expected to close by the end of the year, Monié added.

Meanwhile, Avnet was also busy with M&A plans in its most recent quarter, preparing to sell off its Technology Solutions arm to Tech Data. Following the announcement of the sale, the TS business counts as a discontinued operation.

For the combined business, including TS, net profit fell 47.1 per cent annually to $68.8m, on sales which slumped 13 per cent over the same period to $6bn.

TS performed "below expectations", with sales falling 21.2 per cent annually to $1.87bn.

Its CEO William Ameilo said Avnet's future without TS looks bright.

"In summary, the sale of TS allows us to focus on electronic components business, to which we just added unique capability with the acquisition of Premier Farnell while providing significant capital to strengthen our balance sheet and fund future growth," he said.