Headquarters: 1600 E. St. Andrew Place, Santa Ana
Employees: 13,000; 917 in OC
Business: Technology products distributor
Market value, as of April 4: $3.3 billion
12-month revenue: $28.8 billion, up 13%
12-month net income: $217 million, down 1%
Year in review: The changes started at the top for Ingram Micro Inc., the world’s biggest distributor of technology gear. Gregory Spierkel surprised some by emerging as head of Orange County’s largest company in 2005.
He took over last April, when Kent Foster, Ingram’s chief executive since early 2000, said he was retiring. Spierkel had served as co-president with Kevin Murai for the previous year. Murai still is president and chief operating officer.
Spierkel earlier headed up Ingram’s Asian and European operations.
2005 was a year of both integration and acquisition at Ingram. The company was busy melding its $530 million, late-2004 buy of Tech Pacific Ltd. into its operations. And within weeks of Spierkel taking over, Ingram said it would buy Florida consumer electronics distributor Avad LLC for about $200 million.
Ingram continued to watch its costs. The company’s employee count fell 4% to 13,000, with OC employment down 23% to slightly more than 900.
What’s ahead: After years of getting its costs under control and focusing on high-profit businesses, Ingram plans to focus more on boosting sales.
Now it’s time to look closely at sales, which rose 7% in the fourth quarter,a slower growth pace than its profits.
Ingram won’t forget about its margins.
Ingram’s net income last year was just 0.86% of overall sales. But in the fourth quarter, margins showed some big improvement. Overall, operating margins expanded to 1.76% in the period, up from 1.45% a year earlier. That’s also up from 1.3% in the third quarter.
Look for more acquisitions. Reports out of Asia say that Ingram is looking to buy a 60% stake in a Hong Kong-based company that is the biggest distributor of technology products and services in China,Digital China Holdings Ltd.
Spierkel had a hand in Ingram’s Tech Pacific acquisition as co-president at the time. He helped launch Ingram’s foray into Asia when he arrived in 1997. He oversaw three buys in Asia before moving to Europe to head up operations there in 1999.
Wall Street’s take: Ingram’s had a pretty good year on Wall Street, with shares up about 20% despite trading in a fairly narrow range. Its market value was $3.3 billion at recent check.
Analysts expect Ingram to post revenue of $30.4 billion and net income of $250 million in 2006, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.
WHO’S IN CHARGE
Gregory Spierkel
Chief executive
Joined company: 1997
Education: bachelor’s from Carleton University, Ottawa; master’s in business from Georgetown University
Career: Prior to Ingram, spent 11 years at Canada’s Mitel Networks Corp., a maker of phone systems, software and electronics. Got his start in 1979 at Bell Canada, working on one of the first e-mail systems.
Notable: Spierkel played hockey and curling until age 17. Says he wasn’t “NHL material.” He worked for a time in iron ore mines, doing a number of duties including driving giant mining trucks.
