Ingram Micro's Asia-Pacific sales decreased by 21 percent in the second quarter of 2009 campared to the second quarter of last year, the distributor revealed overnight.
In a statement to the New York Stock Exchange, the distributor attrubuted the drop to weaker regional currencies and weaker demand caused by the softer regional economies.
However, Ingram Micro was able to reduce expenses in advance of the economic downturn, maintaining strong profitability in the region, stated the distie.
Gregory Spierkel, chief executive officer said the company's focus on return on invested capital, sustainable profitability and productivity has served it well.
"We ended the quarter with a record cash balance and the highest second-quarter gross margin in 11 years, providing a solid foundation for the future," he said.
Worldwide sales for the second quarter were US$6.58 billion, a 25 percent decrease from US$8.82 billion in the prior-year period, primarily attributable to weaker demand caused by the worldwide economic downturn.
Sequentially, sales declined two percent from the first quarter, which is relatively consistent with historical seasonal norms over the last several years.
"Looking to the third quarter, we expect the overall demand environment to follow historical seasonal patterns.
"While we do not anticipate an economic rebound in the near term, our larger regions will begin to leverage some of the benefits of our recent cost-reduction and operational-improvement actions," said Spierkel,
"In addition, we will continue to see progress on our expense-reduction efforts," he said.
Last year's expense-reduction program is realising benefits of approximately US$5 million per quarter, while our current program, which began in the fourth quarter of 2008, has realised about half of the quarterly savings of US$25 million to US$30 million expected by year-end," he said.
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