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Ingram Micro boss talks Xvantage, price rises and growth
As the distributor shares its Q4 and full-year numbers, its CEO shares progress made with its partner platform
Ingram Micro has closed out a strong year, with the distributor presenting decent fourth quarter and financial year numbers, with its Xvantage platform and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives contributing to growth.
The headline numbers showed that in the fourth quarter, which ended 27 December, the distributor delivered net sales of $14.9bn, up 11.5% from the previous year. Q4 operating expenses of $656.7m, 4.41% of net sales, was a 74-basis point improvement versus the same period in 2024.
For the full year, net sales came 9.5% up, at $52.6bn, with all regions experiencing growth during the period. Net income climbed by 24.1%.
The distributor benefitted from decent growth in client and endpoint categories, a strengthening small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market and a positive performance across all of its geographical regions.
“Ingram Micro delivered a strong fourth quarter and full year, and we enter 2026 with confidence,” said Paul Bay, CEO of Ingram Micro. “We exceeded the high end of our net sales and EPS guidance, and saw growth across all of our regions.
“Our Xvantage platform continues to build momentum, with the majority of our net sales now flowing through the platform,” he said.
“In an increasingly complex market, Xvantage’s AI‑driven capabilities are improving productivity and enabling richer, higher‑value opportunities for our customers. As we advance to the next phase of Xvantage value creation, and scale our Enable AI programme, we are well-positioned to drive durable, profitable growth.”
Data insights
In an analyst call, Bay underlined the impotence of the Xvantage platform, which the distie has developed over the past three years to support partners, with the channel player planning to share more data insights as it moves forward.
“We are moving through the three phases of Xvantage value creation, with the first being OpEx efficiency; the second top line growth; and the third using data to drive growth, and enhance margins and operating leverage,” he said. “In 2025, we made great strides implementing the second phase of revenue growth and put in place the building blocks to capture the third phase, which will begin taking effect this year.
“During 2025, we delivered billions of dollars of revenue through the Xvantage platform as we meaningfully scaled critical enablement capabilities for our customers, and increase the consistency and predictability of revenue and operating income,” said Bay.
The results covered a period that was largely free from the impact of rising storage prices, and Ingram’s senior leaders indicated the distie was keeping a close eye on moves by vendors and the reactions of customers.
“We’re constantly discussing with our OEM partners,” said Michael Zilis, executive vice-president and chief financial officer at Ingram Micro. “We know well in advance or at least decently in advance when and if price increases are coming in; that can afford some opportunity to do buy-in strategically that we may pursue.”
Bay added that Ingram Micro was looking at the impact of price increases from a couple of angles. “One is the price elasticity and two is the demand,” he said. “We’re really gauging the elasticity of demand and particularly in the SMB markets we serve, and it’s too early to see the impact on that right now.”
Bay said conversations had been held with CEOs of vendor partners with questions asked around allocation of products to meet SME and channel demand.
“They’ve all confirmed that there will be allocation from a demand perspective, or there will be allocation if there is demand,” he said. “I think the real question will be that price elasticity, and how that does potentially impact demand, and how those prices get absorbed within each of the different product sets.”
