If we needed any further proof that consumer tech’s extended drought is over, take a gander at D&H Distributing’s fiscal fourth-quarter results.
As a provider of all manner of IT, CE and small appliance products to dealers, resellers and integrators nationwide, the 100-year-old business is the perfect industry barometer, and the forecast is looking fine.
Closing out the fiscal year, total sales were up 23 percent for the three months ended April 30, led by explosive growth in premium notebook computers (up 120 percent) and connected-home products (ahead 77 percent).
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TV, which had taken an industrywide shellacking in recent years, also mounted a double-digit comeback, with 4K, OLED and HDR options ostensibly fueling a 23 percent rise.
Elsewhere, in IT, desktop computers and printers were also strong, up 19 and 16 percent, respectively, while D&H’s commercial business also soared, on a 77 percent increase in pro-channel displays.
On the earnings side of the ledger, the period represented the company’s 400th-plus consecutive quarter of profitability.
For the full fiscal year, sales were up 11.3 percent, pushing annual revenue to within a stone’s throw of $4 billion.
“D&H is proud to have thrived through repeated market fluctuations over the decades,” noted co-president Dan Schwab, and has been able to “extend the resources to help our customers grow in challenging times and take advantage of increased opportunities during economic boons.”
The family-run, ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) business began as a Pennsylvania tire retreading company in 1918 and today operates six distribution centers in the U.S. and Canada.
