The unaudited figures project a $362 million profit (operating income) for the year.
The company totalled a 13 per cent sales increase over 2004, led by a 27 per cent hike in sales from the Asia Pacific region. North American sales (which accounts for 41 per cent of Ingram’s revenue) were up four per cent from a year ago.
CEO Greg Spierkel attributed the performance to managing costs — including outsourcing millions in back office functions to service providers in India and the Philippines — as well as a diversification strategy which saw it buy Tech Pacific, a distributor serving Asian and Pacific countries, and Avad LLC, a U.S.-based distributor of high-end home theatre products.
Looking to this year, Spierkel told analysts on a conference call that the company will continue with its diversification strategy, including “adding a richer offering of services and private label products.”
Ingram COO Kevin Murai told CDN those services, which VARs would resell, could be an expansion of Ingram’s Services Network (IMSN) and include network design and engineering as well as providing vendor warranty service. IMSN already delivers break-fix services and the just-announced Office Pack warranty services.
However, a fledgling program for system builders won’t be coming to Canada fast.
Ingram is starting to organize System ArchiTechs, similar to its VentureTech Network of solution providers, to bring white box builders closer to hardware manufacturers.
Murai said the company is targeting 700 system builders in the U.S. as potential members who want to take advantage of vendor training and marketing to expand their businesses.
But “we haven’t determined yet” when it will come north, Murai said. “We want to get our feet wet in the U.S. first.”
VTN didn’t come to Canada “for a couple of years,” he noted. It might not take ArchiTechs that long to get here, he added. However, when pressed he wouldn’t say if the program will start in Canada this year.
Although Ingram doesn’t break out performance by country, Murai said its business here “did very well.”