Showing strength under challenging conditions amid fears of a
worldwide economic slowdown, IT products distributor Tech Data saw its
third quarter sales rise to nearly $6.6 billion, a 7 percent increase
from the same period last year. Operating income for the third quarter
was $89.6 million. The company noted the strengthening of certain
foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar, compared to the same period
of the prior year, positively impacted the year-over-year net sales
comparison by approximately 3 percentage points.
Net sales in Europe totaled $3.81 billion, or 58 percent of
worldwide net sales, representing an increase of 10 percent over the
prior-year third quarter, while net sales in the Americas—which
represent 42 percent of worldwide net sale-- rose just 3 percent. Net
sales for the nine-month period ended Oct. 31 were $19.38 billion, an
increase of 12 percent from $17.26 billion for the nine-month period
ended Oct. 31, 2010.
"Demonstrating the resiliency of our business model, our teams in
both regions successfully navigated a moderating demand environment -
selecting pockets of opportunity and delivering year-over-year sales
and earnings growth,” said Tech Data CEO Robert Dutkowsky.
He also noted the completion of another $100 million in share
repurchases during the quarter contributed to the company’s 12th
consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings per share growth and
brought their cumulative share repurchases to $900 million since 2005.
In addition, for the last 12 months, the company generated a return on
invested capital of 15 percent, which Dutkowsky said underscored a
strong reinforcement of their commitment to shareholder value creation.
"For the fourth quarter, we are planning, in both regions, for flat
to low single-digit sales growth in local currencies. We will continue
our focus on responsible growth and on the quality of the revenue
opportunities we pursue, taking into consideration our gross and
operating margin goals,” Dutkowsky said. “In Europe, we are currently
realigning our resources to more closely match our cost structure and
our skills portfolio with market opportunities, which will result in
incremental costs of approximately $15 million in the fourth quarter.
Despite this, we still expect a solid fourth quarter and another
record-setting year for Tech Data.”
