Bell Microproducts Beats Expectations, Looks for Stronger 2002

Bell Microproducts

The distributor of storage products and solutions earned $200,000, or 1 cent per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to $5.2 million in net income, or 20 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Thomson Financial/First Call predicted break-even results.

Revenue for the quarter fell 3 percent to $527 million, compared to $544 million for the same period last year.

Bell Microproducts posted $2.01 billion in sales in 2001, up 11 percent from $1.8 billion in 2000. The company reported a net loss of $22.1 million last year, including a $17.4 million after-tax special charge. The company earned $17.2 million in fiscal 2000.

"Our storage systems and solutions sales have shown further strength in a generally difficult market environment," said Don Bell, president and CEO. "Storage solutions are a major focus, and this segment of the IT market is expected to lead the way in the economic recovery, driven by high-growth mission-critical applications. During 2001, we strengthened our position in enterprise storage with the addition of leadership alliance agreements [with Compaq, IBM and EMC, and with the expansion of our software licensing program."

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Bell Microproducts expects to improve its performance this year, despite a cloudy outlook in the near-term, Bell said.

"While 2001 was a disappointing year financially, we believe it was the best year strategically for Bell Microproducts. We are pleased with the results of our strategic initiatives, particularly our growing thrust into higher-margin storage systems and services," he said. "In the long run, we believe that we can continue to outperform industry growth rates, with good profitability."

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