Roy Vallee, chairman and CEO
of Avnet (NYSE:AVT), told financial analysts
that the distribution giant’s fiscal second quarter showed strength,
particularly in December, perhaps because IT organizations were looking to
spend their allotted budgets before the end of the calendar year.
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The results, reported the week of Jan. 25 and
discussed in a conference call with financial analysts, accompanied a
significant sense of relief after a recession ravaged so many technology
companies’ results in 2009.
Avnet’s revenue hit $4.83 billion for its fiscal 2010 second quarter ending
Jan. 2, representing an increase of 13.2 percent over the same period last
year. Net income was $103.9 million or 68 cents per diluted share, compared
with a staggering net loss of $1.205 billion or $7.99 per share for the same
period a year ago.
Avnet’s IT sales group, Technology Solutions, saw sales of $2.32 billion in the
second quarter of fiscal 2010, up 15.8 percent year over year.
And sequentially, sales for the TS group grew 30 percent, TS President Phil
Gallagher tells Channel Insider.
"It was certainly a very strong quarter for Technology Solutions,"
Gallagher says. "We are pleased with the performance of all regions."
In terms of technology, Gallagher says TS saw good growth in both storage and
software sales, and server sales grew by 20 percent.
Gallagher tells Channel Insider that macroeconomic conditions have improved,
but also TS saw a little better than normal seasonality for December.
"2010 is somewhere in the mid-single digits for growth," he says.
Avnet’s Electronics Marketing business—the chip and component sales side of the
business—reported sales of $2.52 billion for the fiscal second quarter, an 11 percent
increase year over year.
Looking ahead to the third quarter, Avnet is forecasting EM sales in the range
of $2.55 billion to $2.85 billion and TS sales in the range of $1.55 billion to
$1.85 billion. Consolidated sales are forecast to be between $4.10 billion and
$4.70 billion for the third quarter.