Ingram Micro Australia back over $2 billion after five years

Ingram Micro Australia posted revenue of $2.04 billion for the year ended 2 January 2016, according to its annual report only recently made available to corporate regulator ASIC.

The distributor posted 12 percent growth from the previous year and a $9.3 million net profit. In 2014, its revenue was $1.75 billion but the distributor closed the year at a $14.3 million loss.

In fact, Ingram Micro Australia had not reported a profitable year since 2010 when it made a $4 million net profit on revenue of $2.09 billion - its most recent year over $2 billion.   

The 2015 revenue result should come as no surprise given the distributor's former Australian managing director, Matt Sanderson, gave an interview to CRN in December 2015 when he revealed Ingram was on track to cross the $2 billion milestone.

Felix Wong, the distributor's chief country executive Australia and New Zealand, told CRN how Ingram achieved the results. "Our core distribution business continues to drive revenue, and by increasing our services offering – fulfilment, deployment, configuration, IT asset disposal and regeneration, web services – we are able to add more value to our partners, resulting in overall business growth," Wong said.

Ingram has four business units that contribute to the overall results: core distribution, life cycle services, commerce and fulfilment, and cloud.

Wong said a lot of work had been done since 2010 to improve systems, service offerings and the distributor's focus on customers.

"Every year we continue to improve and refine our business so we can effectively service our partners and support business growth and market changes. We are investing in recruitment, attracting the best people in the industry to our business, cementing our position as the leading distributor in Australia," Wong added.

Some high moments for Ingram in 2015 include adding the HP Software IT management range to its portfolio, winning Dell's PC distribution and launching its cloud marketplace, which reached 1000 customers in just over six months.

In 2016, Ingram announced a series of distribution deals including Dropbox, Fonality, Dell security and more. The company also waved goodbye to Matt Sanderson in May.

Last year was its last as a private company following the acquisition by Chinese conglomerate HNA Group for US$6 billion, and this major deal was mentioned in the Australian annual report.

In the director's letter filled with ASIC, chief financial officer Peter Mastroianni said: "It is expected that the acquisition will not have a significant impact on the day to day business of Ingram Inc. and its subsidiaries, including Australia which will continue business as usual."

Regarding the acquisition, Wong added: "Ingram Micro remains a standalone operating company, headquartered in Irvine, California and led by Alain Monié as CEO. Our vendor and customer partners will benefit from our ability to increase investment, as well as from expanded access to emerging markets, all of which will further our collective business objectives. Being part of the HNA Group does not have any impact on our daily operations."

Interestingly for channel watchers, both Ingram Micro and rival distributor Synnex crossed the $2 billion threshold in the same period with similar Australian revenues – Synnex's $2.08 billion was just 2 percent higher than Ingram's $2.04 billion.

Looking at the 2015 annual reports from the country's two largest distributors also helps provide a profile of the overall Australian distribution market, which is now dominated by six major disties: Synnex, Ingram, Dicker Data, Avnet, Westcon and Arrow ECS. Combined, they generated more than $6 billion in 2015.