Exclusive Networks achieves first ever €1bn-revenue quarter

The French distributor also saw sales rocket more than 70 per cent in the Americas

Exclusive Networks has announced a record breaking quarter in its Q4 and full year results, ended December 31, 2021.

The distribution giant logged gross sales of €1bn, a spike of 31.4 per cent year on year.

For its FY2021, the group's gross sales were also up double-digits rising 29.5 per cent to €3.3bn.

CEO Jesper Trolle said the distributor's latest financials amounted to a "symbolic milestone" for the channel firm.

"For the first time in its history, Exclusive Networks exceeded €1bn of gross sales in a quarter," he said.

"This is not just a symbolic milestone in our journey, but also again demonstrates our success addressing the compelling demand for cybersecurity solutions and offering the optimal go to market platform to guide customers in the ever-changing environment with best-in-class solutions. "

He added: "The migration to cloud and its associated complexity represents a great growth opportunity as it allows us to get even closer to vendors, partners and end customers."

The French distributor said that 46 per cent of its Q4 growth was attributable to existing vendor portfolios; 31 per cent to vendors who'd expanded their portfolio, six per cent to new vendors for the distributor, and 23 per cent to the firm's own acquisitions.

Focusing on its two buys in particular, its acquisition of Ignition Technology in July contributed €18m of gross sales in Q4, while its December purchase of Networks Unlimited accounted for €7.1m.

Exclusive soars in Americas

The company saw its figures rocket in the Americas region, with gross sales soaring 77.4 per cent to €122.3m for the quarter.

It claims the rapid growth was generated by the investments made earlier in the year which helped capture the intense demand for cybersecurity solutions, a significantly higher number of large contracts and the addition of Juniper and Docker to its existing portfolio in the Americas.

Home turf - EMEA

Exclusive's operations in EMEA also enjoyed a healthy quarter, with gross sales growing 30.6 per cent to €817.9m.

It explained the robust market dynamism post pandemic and the sustained enterprise momentum continued to drive growth, as well as the expansion of F5 and Netskope to some new territories.

Outlook

Trolle said the firm's latest financials means the distributor - which went public last year - believes it's on track to meet current short and medium targets.

"The global environment is characterised by a growing awareness about digital threats and increasing demand for cybersecurity solutions, all of which is well aligned with Exclusive Networks' core market proposition, partner ecosystem, and business objectives," he said.

"We foresee the strong momentum in the market to continue short term and mid-term. We are reconfirming our full-year 2021 profitability and medium-term targets."