Arrow Electronics is the latest distributor to feel the consequences of the current global economic turmoil.
The company's fourth quarter profit plummeted from $114m in 2007 to $43.2m in 2008. Sales fell from $4.42bn in 2007 to $4.09bn in 2008.Component sales of $2.45bn were down 13 per cent year on year.
"In our global components business, sales were in line with expectations," said Michael J Long, president and chief operating officer of Arrow. "Overall, the components markets continue to exhibit a degree of caution, which we would expect to persist," he added.
Chairman and chief executive officer William E Mitchell (pictured) expects the market place to continue to be unsettled and that visibility will remain limited most likely through 2009. "While we cannot control external forces, we will continue to manage our business with the discipline necessary to maintain our financial strength, which we see as a competitive advantage in these difficult times," he added.
Arrow has already initiated a number of cost-saving actions which it estimates will reduce costs by $175m annually.
For the full year of 2008 Arrow reported a profit of $301.4m on sales of $16.76bn against $407.8m on sales of $15.98bn in 2007.
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