Ingram Micro cuts forecast

Ingram Micro CEO Greg Spierkel has spoken out on the worsening economy as the broadline distributor released a downward revision to its Q3 financial outlook.

Spierkel said it was “now clear” that the soft economy that impacted Ingram Micro’s businesses over the summer was not going away.

“In Europe we are not seeing the typical September bounce-back from the summer holidays,” he said.

Ingram Micro now expects third quarter sales to come in at around $8.4bn, with net profit somewhere between $30m and $39m. The distributor also expects to incur a $5m charge for costs relating to its expense reduction plans.

Ingram Micro is reducing costs “as quickly as possible”, according to management, with an ongoing restructuring programme aimed at slashing $18m to $24m out of the budget. However, as Spierkel noted, the pace of the downturn was proving more rapid than expected and the firm is now “reviewing additional cost-reduction actions to supplement this current programme in the coming quarters”.

Full Q3 results will be made public on 23 October, said Ingram Micro.