Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc., the world’s biggest distributor of computers, software and consumer electronics, recently made a small acquisition that’s set to add to its storage offerings in Europe.
Ingram Micro purchased some assets of Britain’s Computacenter Distribution, a unit of Computacenter PLC, the largest reseller of technology products used by corporations.
Computacenter Distribution specializes in distributing servers, storage and related software and services.
In January, its parent company said it would stop the distribution of personal computers and printers and instead focus on its server and storage business, which had higher margins.
It has some 40 workers, who are set to join Ingram’s Britain operations.
Computacenter Distribution’s general manager, Jon Bunyard, is set to report to Matt Sanderson, managing director of Ingram Micro U.K.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close this month, weren’t disclosed.
Raymond James & Associates Inc. analyst Brian Alexander estimates that Computacenter Distribution sees roughly $140 million to $160 million in yearly sales.
The deal could add about $40 million to Ingram’s top line for 2009, Alexander said in a research note.
For the three months through Oct. 3, Ingram reported sales of $7.38 billion, down 11% from a year earlier and beating analysts’ expected $6.65 billion in sales.
The company posted profits, excluding one-time charges, of about $47 million, down 17% and surpassing analysts’ expected $33 million in profits.
Including the charges, Ingram earned $42 million.
On the heels of its results, Chief Executive Gregory Spierkel gave an outlook for the current quarter that had a positive ring to it for the first time in more than a year.
“We anticipate year-over-year sales declines to be reduced to single-digit percentages, aided by improving demand and our emphasis on a better customer engagement,” Spierkel said. “While we are optimistic about what appears to be a budding recovery, we are not waiting for demand to return in order to achieve our objectives.”
Analyst Alexander said the “third quarter marked a reversal of fortune for the company as consensus estimates should begin to rise after a string of revenue disappointments. Ingram Micro should see better earnings growth over the coming year as results have been more severely impacted by the recession when compared to its major competitors.”
Microsemi Plant Closure
Wall Street is pretty pleased with the continued cost cutting at Irvine-based chipmaker Microsemi Corp.
The company, which makes chips for aerospace, defense and industrial uses, it set to close an Arizona plant in a move expected to save it $20 million to $25 million a year.
The company plans to close its Scottsdale plant by 2011 as part of its ongoing effort to cut costs and lower the amount of chips its produces.
The company expects a charge of $24 million to $26 million in the current quarter for severance and other costs related to the closure.
Another $3 million in charges could come before the plant closes in the next 18 months.
The plant produces chips that regulate electrical power in computer products, telecommunication gear, medical devices and military and aerospace products.
Microsemi plans to move the work done in Scottsdale to other plants it operates.
“Management has an excellent record of streamlining the business to maximize operating efficiencies,” Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Rick Schafer said in a research note. “We expect investors to cheer this move.”
Investors and analysts had in the past raised concerns about a confusing line item on Microsemi’s balance sheet, which Microsemi called “transitional idle capacity charges.”
The charges had to do with the restructuring of other plants, but they are set to be phased out soon.
Schafer estimates some 250 jobs will be cut in Scottsdale and some work could be moved to California plants.
In 2005, Microsemi looked at closing an Ireland plant but opted to keep it open and
shift work from other facilities there, including from Scottsdale.
Vizio Licenses
Irvine’s Vizio Inc., which designs and markets flat TVs, recently inked a cross-licensing deal with Sony Corp. to settle a long-running patent dispute.
Sony agreed to become a licensee under Viz-io’s patent portfolio for digital TV technologies.
Vizio, in turn, now is a licensee under Sony’s color TV patent portfolio.
“As an owner of patent rights and as a licensee of legitimate patent rights held by others, Vizio respects intellectual property and we expect our competitors to do the same,” said Robert Brinkman, vice president of operations at Vizio.
In July, Vizio won out over Japan’s Funai Electric Co. in a legal battle over patents for chips that go into digital TVs.
It also has pending patent litigation with LG Electronics Inc., a subsidiary of South Korean consumer electronics maker LG Group.
