• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Arrow Boosts Sales And Profits For Enterprise Computing In Q1

    May 13, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    Various IT suppliers have had a tough time in various parts of their businesses as 2013 has gotten rolling, but master electronics and IT distributor Arrow Electronics seems to be having an easier time than some of the upstream vendors whose products it peddles in the data center.

    In the first quarter ended in March, Arrow said that its overall sales contracted by 1 percent to $4.85 billion, mainly by a reduction in its electronic components business, which fell by 5 percent to $3.19 billion. Keeping that revenue coming in selling components came at a cost, however, and operating earnings for the Global Components group at Arrow fell by 24.9 percent to $128.3 million.

    The Enterprise Computing Solutions part of Arrow, however, did considerably better despite the uncertainties in spending by the governments of the United States, China, and a number of European countries. The ECS biz posted sales of $1.66 billion in the first quarter, up 7.6 percent, and it operating earnings grew even faster with an 11 percent increase year-on-year to $61.6 million. The distribution business is a tough one, just like retailing is, and in the case of the first quarter, only 3.7 percent of all the sales of servers, storage, switching, software, and services that ECS did for Arrow made it to the operating income line.

    Arrow had $21.6 million in restructuring charges in the first quarter, and that pushed down net income to $77.9 million, a decrease of 30 per cent compared to a year ago. Even without those charges, net earnings were going to be down.

    In the Americas region, Arrow had a better-than-expected close to the first quarter, but in Europe, sales were a bit below plan. Storage, software, and services “grew at a healthy rate,” according to the statement put out by Arrow in conjunction with its financial results. Michael Long, CEO and chairman at Arrow, said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts that the company had “solid” growth in its X86 server business. Later in the call, Long said X86 server sales were up 6 percent year-on-year, but that proprietary machines (Unix and IBM i boxes for the most part) had an 11 percent bump in EMEA even though they declined worldwide. Software revenues were up 10 percent (it is mostly virtualization tools and middleware), and storage was up 6 percent. Services had a very decent 13 percent jump in Q1 at Arrow.

    “I think the good news that we saw was that there was actually some life in that proprietary segment for us,” Long said on the call. “It’s been a long time coming.”

    No kidding, brother. Let’s hope it picks up even more steam as the quarters roll forward. With IBM only shipping the entry and midrange Power7+ systems on March 15, the second quarter will be the telling one.

    RELATED STORIES

    Storage, Software, And Services Drive Up Arrow’s Systems Biz In Q4

    IBM Taps Ingram Micro, Tech Data To Peddle Power Systems, Storage

    Arrow Empowers Partners To Peddle Converged Systems, Eats Another IT Recycler

    ECS Sales And Profit Bump Can’t Offset Components Slump At Arrow

    Arrow And Avnet Ride System Upgrade Waves In Recent Quarter



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    VISUAL LANSA 16 WEBINAR

    Trying to balance stability and agility in your IBM i environment?

    Join this webinar and explore Visual LANSA 16 – our enhanced professional low-code platform designed to help organizations running on IBM i evolve seamlessly for what’s next.

    🎙️VISUAL LANSA 16 WEBINAR

    Break Monolithic IBM i Applications and Unlock New Value

    Explore modernization without rewriting. Decouple monolithic applications and extend their value through integration with modern services, web frameworks, and cloud technologies.

    🗓️ July 10, 2025

    ⏰ 9 AM – 10 AM CDT (4 PM to 5 PM CEST)

    See the webinar schedule in your time zone

    Register to join the webinar now

    What to Expect

    • Get to know Visual LANSA 16, its core features, latest enhancements, and use cases
    • Understand how you can transition to a MACH-aligned architecture to enable faster innovation
    • Discover native REST APIs, WebView2 support, cloud-ready Azure licensing, and more to help transform and scale your IBM i applications

    Read more about V16 here.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    CYBRA Debuts Locking RFID Seals Vision Unveils New Entry-Level DR Solution for IBM i

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 23, Number 18 -- May 13, 2013
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Bug Busters Software Engineering
SEQUEL Software
Abacus Solutions
Townsend Security
RJS Software Systems

Table of Contents

  • The Sweet 16 Of Mobile App Dev Tools for IBM i
  • Dances With Elephants
  • Knee Deep In Database Modernization
  • As I See It: Abiding Solitude
  • IT Hiring Growth Slows For Third Month In A Row
  • Arrow Boosts Sales And Profits For Enterprise Computing In Q1
  • Salesforce.com Was The Top CRM Software Peddler In 2012
  • IBM Adds Power7+ Iron To Virtual Loaner Program
  • Corus360 Builds Power Systems Cloud In Atlanta
  • Take COMMON Europe’s Top Concerns 2013 Survey

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • With Power11, Power Systems “Go To Eleven”
  • With Subscription Price, IBM i P20 And P30 Tiers Get Bigger Bundles
  • Izzi Buys CNX, Eyes Valence Port To System Z
  • IBM i Shops “Attacking” Security Concerns, Study Shows
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 26
  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
  • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
  • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
  • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle