Ingram Micro has blamed weaker market demand and foreign currencies for a drop in global sales. According to a financial statement, the distributor posted net losses of $US394.9 million worldwide, including a $US742.6 million goodwill impairment charge, for the full-year to January 3, 2009. Its revenues were down 2 per cent year-on-year to $US34.36 billion. Gross profits however, lifted from $1.9 billion to $1.94 billion over the 12-month period. Across Asia-Pacific, Ingram reported full-year net sales of $US6.90 billion, a decrease of 3 per cent year-on-year. The regional business witnessed net restructuring costs of $291 million, and ran off a 1.76 per cent operating margin. Ingram’s fourth quarter results also highlighted the effects of the economic downturn. During the last quarter of the calendar year, Ingram reported a 13 per cent year-on-year drop in global sales to $US8.68 billion. Over the same period, Asia-Pacific sales fell 23 per cent to $US1.49 billion, or 17 percent of total revenues. During Q4, Asia-Pacific posted an operating loss of $US444.1 million including a $475.3 million goodwill impairment charge. Despite the challenging economic circumstances, Ingram’s global CEO, Greg Spierkel, said its focus on enhancing gross margins and reducing expenses allowed the distributor to achieve solid operational results. According to its statement, gross margins in the last quarter of 2008 were the highest Ingram experienced in 10 years. “Every region concentrated on driving profitability,” Spierkel said in a statement. “We expect 2009 to be even more challenging. Demand continues to soften across most of the countries in which we operate and the stronger dollar is also creating a translation headwind, affecting prior-year sales comparisons. “Based on our sales figures to date, we expect first-quarter sales to experience a year-over-year percentage decline in the low-to-mid twenties, which includes the translation impact of relatively weaker foreign currencies.”
