Arrow Electronics' chief executive this week described 2014 as a "outstanding year" for the distributor after the company reported an increase in sales and profit due in part to growth in its enterprise computing solutions business in the Americas and higher component sales in Asia and the Americas.
Arrow (Englewood, Colo.) reported 2014 sales of $22.77 billion, up 7 percent from $21.36 billion in 2013.
Arrow said sales for its global components business totalled $14.3 billion for 2014, an increase of 6 percent compared to 2013. Sales from the company's enterprise computing systems business increased to $8.45 billion in 2014, an increase of 8 percent compared with 2013.
Arrow reported a net income for 2014 of $498 million, or $4.98 per diluted share, up 25 percent from 2013.
In a statement, Michael Long, Arrow's chairman, president and CEO, said both the global components and enterprise computing solutions segments delivered sales and operating income growth in the fourth quarter to complete an "outstanding" year.
Global components sales increased to $3.59 billion in the fourth quarter, an increase of 4 percent compared with the same period of 2013. Component sales in the Americas increased 4 percent year over year, while sales in Europe components sales grew just 1 percent, Asia Pacific components revenue increased 8 percent in the fourth quarter, Arrow said.
Global enterprise computing solutions fourth-quarter sales increased 3 percent to $2.81 billion compared to the fourth quarter of 2013. Americas sales grew 9 percent year over year, while Europe sales declined 6 percent year over year. Both Americas and Europe continued to experience strong growth in software and services, according to Arrow.
Long said Arrow expects total sales of between $4.9 billion and $5.3 billion in the first quarter of 2015. Global components sales should be between $3.35 billion and $3.55 billion, and global enterprise computing solutions sales between $1.55 billion and $1.75 billion.
The forecast assumes an average U.S. dollar to euro exchange rate for the first quarter to be 1.14 to 1.
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