Strategy in TECH...
News comes this 4th of July holiday week that Ingram Micro, itself just recently acquired by a Chinese shipping company, has sold off AVAD, LLC and AVAD Canada Ltd., to Kingswood Capital Management, a private equity company. In an announcement from Kingswood, the company says it has brought in a new upper management team – including a new CEO, industry veteran Tom Jacoby.
The Associated Press is reporting that Ingram Micro, Inc., best known as parent company to custom integration distributor AVAD, has been sold to Tianjin Tianhai, a Chinese Shipping company in a deal worth roughly $6 billion. The all-cash deal works out to approximately $38.90 per Ingram Micro share, well over its previous close of $29.42.
Ingram Micro, Inc. reported results for the second quarter and first half of their current fiscal year and it would be easy to be confused by these results. Why? Well, sales were down 3.2%, operating earnings dropped an astonishing 98%, and last year’s net income plunged into a net loss this year. Yet CEO Alain Monié said in accompanying materials, “Our teams are doing a great job…”
AVAD, LLC, the custom integration-centric distribution division of Ingram Micro, announced today that it is launching its 2015 Vendopalooza program, the seventh year it has offered the traveling mini-trade show for dealers. And first up in the event schedule is on January 22nd at AVAD’s Irvine, California branch location.
Ingram Micro, Inc. released the financial results for their fiscal third quarter (the period ending Sept. 27, 2014) showing generally positive results. Sales for the quarter increased to $11.2 billion, a $1 billion or 11% increase over the $10.2 billion for the same period last year. According to Ingram Micro CEO Alain Monié, the increase was due primarily to “new wins” and “strong market share.”
But while gross profits were up, gross margins, operating income, and net income were all down for the period…and that fact led us to take a closer look.
Ingram Micro, Inc. reported the results for their fiscal second quarter and first half last week and the report was generally positive. The company noted that worldwide revenues in the quarter increased $600 million or 6% to a new Q2 record of $10.9 billion which they attributed to, among other things, “new mobility wins, robust networking sales and solid systems revenue in North America…strengthening retail and consumer markets in Europe; and better demand in Latin America.”
Ingram Micro’s press released barely mentioned that net income dropped during the quarter. But a closer look at its SEC filing showed a meaningful drop in net income of 27.4% for the quarter and 36.8% for the half.
For many tech companies, the industry has never been more challenging than the period following the end of the 2007 economic recession. For most of us, we put on a brave face and tell anyone who asks that everything is fine. But executives in public companies have the added challenge of having their performance publicly announced…often subjecting management to rebuke from angry investors.
For the last two years, however, most public companies on Wall Street have enjoyed a significant comeback. And this comeback has led to substantial increases in remuneration for company executives – Ingram Micro included. But who has done better – investors in the company’s stock…or the company management?
In a story that has largely flown under the radar in our industry but is being widely discussed at street level, Ingram Micro has announced plans it calls its “global organizational effectiveness program” that, among other things, calls for substantial layoffs in its North American operations. These layoffs will hit a division that is one of our industry’s largest distributors of custom integration products, known to most of us as AVAD.
3M Touch Systems, Inc. announced today a new 46-inch 3M Multi-Touch Display C4667PW – a high-performance multi-touch display with the ability to track up to 60 simultaneous touch points. Designed with multi-user environments in mind, 3M says the C4667PW is optimal for collaborative environments where two or more people need to work both independently and as a group.
<January 4, 2012> With the close of 2011, it’s time to look back on those stories that readers found most meaningful. Stratecon’s newsletters had another record year and our website activity continues to reach ever increasing heights as more and more readers seek out ALERT and BEACON stories to get “the scoop” on what’s happening in the technology business today. [Read more…] about Stratecon’s Top 10 BEACON & ALERT Stories of 2011
