Credit: Ingram Micro
Ingram Micro has reported record revenues and profits during the 2018 fiscal year, driven by worldwide sales surpassing the US$50 billion mark.
Revealed via a company filing, the distribution giant reported sales of $50.4 billion for the year ending 29 December 2018, representing an increase of $3.8 billion or eight per cent compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, gross profit during the financial year increased by $230 million to $3.2 billion, with gross margin of 6.30 per cent.
The numbers surpassed results in 2017, which totalled $46.7 billion in sales, alongside a gross profit of $2.9 billion and gross margin of 6.32 per cent.
The release of financials come amid a period of increased speculation for the industry’s largest distributor, following sale talks at the start of the year.
As reported by ARN in January, the business looked set to start the new year under new ownership with parent company, HNA Group, in preliminary talks to sell the world’s largest technology distributor.
Following increased media speculation during the Christmas period, HNA Technology, a listed arm of the Chinese conglomerate, confirmed discussions were underway with an interested party, in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the interested party is private equity firm Apollo Global management LLC, for a rumoured price tag of US$7.5 billion.
Headquartered in New York, USA, Apollo’s private equity business had approximately US$72 billion in assets under management as of 30 September 2018.
Within the technology sector, the business acquired Rackspace in 2016 in a US$4.2 billion deal.
“Due to changes in market conditions and the company’s strategy, the company is in talks with a concerned party on selling Ingram Micro,” the company stated in the exchange filing.
