Arrow Electronics sent a chill through the market announcing its third quarter results and a warning that the fourth quarter is looking a tough call.
Such is the uncertainty about future prospects Arrow issued an unusually wide forecast for Q4 of between $4.05bn to $4.45bn. That is an awful lot of uncertainty. Arrow is obviously doing a terrific job in Asia Pacific where sales and income were up. Not enough to offset falls in North America and Europe. In fact total sales in Q3 2008 were up to $4.30bn from $4.03bn year on year. That includes Arrow's IT business. Component sales worldwide were $2.99bn, up 5 per cent year on year.
William E Mitchell (pictured), chairman and CEO of Arrow will be pursuing what he describes as "prudent management to stay attuned to rapidly changing and volatile market conditions."
Profits fell in Q3 2008 from $98.3m last year to $76.1m. Mitchell cited a changing product mix and competitive pricing pressures for this decline.
The electronica show is looming and I have meetings with most of the major distributors there so I'll round up thinking on prospects from the show.
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