Distributor Avnet Inc. reported fiscal 2014 sales of $27.5 billion, an 8 percent increase compared with fiscal 2013.
Avnet’s fiscal fourth quarter sales also increased to $7 billion from $6.6 billion in fourth quarter 2013, the company said.
Avnet CEO Rick Hamada said Avnet's return to year-over-year growth helped drive improvements in the distributor’s financial and operational performance.
“We added over $2 billion to our top line, expanded margins and returns, and grew adjusted diluted earnings per share at twice the rate of revenue," Hamada said.
Sales increased for both Avnet's Electronics Marketing (EM) and Technology Solution (TS) groups. EM’s component business increased from $15 billion and Avnet's fiscal 2013 to $16.5 billion in 2014, the company said. Technology Solutions revenue increased from $10.36 billion in 2013 two $10.95 billion in 2014, the company said.
Electronics Marketing had especially strong sales in its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter as revenue grew 8.8 percent to $4.3 billion compared to $3.97 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“EM closed out the fiscal year with another strong performance as our team delivered a fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year organic growth,” said Hamada. He noted that Avnet EM posted double-digit sales growth in Asia and the fourth quarter.
Technology Solutions, which market's computer products and software, posted 4.4 percent growth in the fourth quarter as sales which grew to $2.7 billion from $2.62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“In the June quarter, we experienced a somewhat encouraging rebound in our TS Americas region after a weaker than expected close to the March quarter,” said Hamada. He added that Technology Solution’s business posted margin expansion for the sixth consecutive will quarter as revenue grew 4.6 percent sequentially.
“It feels good to be back on growth in 2014,” said Hamada. "We think the outlook is similar as we head into 2015 based on what we have seen in the last year.”
Kevin Moriarty, Avnet’s chief financial officer, said sales in the first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year are forecast to be between $6.4 billion and $7 billion.
“Avnet first quarter EM sales are expected to be in the range of $4.1 billion to $4.4 billion and TS sales are expected to be between $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion,” he said.
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