Westcon International — Overview

David Grant

Chief Executive Officer

Callum McGregor

Chief Financial Officer

Westcon International enables vendors of high-tech enterprise solutions to increase their channel and market penetration by supporting and developing an extensive channel of IT systems integrators, service providers and resellers.

Highlights

Continued excellent execution with gross invoiced income up 3%

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 25% to US$149.9 million (FY24: US$120.2 million)

EBITDA improved by 13% to US$136.3 million (FY24: US$121.0 million)

Net working capital days decreased to 3 days

Strong employee engagement rating of 75%

Order intake increased by US$700 million or 15% from FY24

Demand for cyber security and cloud infrastructure remains strong across all markets

EcoVadis evolution across the division (Bronze rating achieved)

ISO14001 certification retained for European logistics centres

Gross invoiced income by technology category

Over3 500 employees 40% female

Gross invoiced income by business unit

Over50 countries worldwide

Corporate overview

Global technology provider and specialist value-added distributor of industry-leading world-class cyber security, network infrastructure, cloud computing and data centre solutions and channel support services

Global network of service providers, systems integrators and speciality resellers

Operating globally with major presence in Europe, Asia-pacific, the Middle East and Africa

Provides solutions from a broad portfolio of world‑class, market‑leading high-tech vendors

Goes to market under the Westcon, Comstor and Rebura, a Westcon company

Purpose

Westcon International's purpose is to drive partner success, to maximise sales and market penetration of emerging and core vendor solutions in the cyber security, networking infrastructure and cloud computing sectors, by transforming the distribution channel. This is achieved through its people, relationships, marketplace, digital and data-driven marketing strategies and innovation.

Portfolio

Westcon

Westcon has expertise with vendors in the following technology solution segments:

Cyber security:

• Broadcom
• Check Point
• CrowdStrike
• Efficient IP
• F5 Networks
• Infoblox
• Ivanti
• Netscout
• Palo Alto Networks
• Proof Point
• Splunk
• Tenable
• TrendMicro and
• Zscaler

Networking infrastructure:

• Ciena
• Extreme Networks
• Juniper
• Nokia
• Ruckus

Cloud collaboration and data centre:

• AWS
• Microsoft
• NetApp
• Pure Storage and
• VMware

Comstor

The world's only Cisco-dedicated global distributor provides the full line of Cisco technologies to a wide range of customers in over 100 countries. Comstor specialises in the following architectures/technologies:

Cisco security:

Providing highly secure firewall, web and email threat detection, Secure Service Access Edge (“SASE”) and management services for network and mobile device protection

Cisco collaboration:

Empowering people to engage and innovate through multiple endpoints and truly collaborative software – anywhere, any time, on any device

Cisco software:

Flexible software licensing across the hardware estate combined with profitable annuity revenue

Cisco data centre:

Allowing data to be analysed, simplified, automated and protected for operational efficiency through storage of digital information on mission-critical applications

Cisco enterprise networking:

Covering small and medium-sized businesses and enterprise solutions across core switching, wireless and routing technologies – without the enterprise costs

Cisco services:

Providing customer support on Cisco solutions through its global support and solutions team of experts, serving over 180 countries and responding in 17 languages

Westcon International

Westcon International also has capability practices and specialities that it offers globally under its Westcon-Comstor brand:

Cloud:

• AWS
• Microsoft Azure and
• Microsoft Office 365

Flex

Funding solutions that blend software billing and traditional distribution with flexible payment schemes to overcome budget constraints and accelerate the adoption of the latest technology

Marketing and business generation services

Including the award-winning “Intelligent Demand” programme and “Partner Insights”

Support and technical services:

• Education, network and security operating centres
• Technical support and
• Professional services installation

Global supply chain services:

• Logistics
• Staging
• Strategic stocking
• Configuration
• Project co-ordination
• VAT recoverability; global contracting and global credit management for international deployments and contracts

How Westcon International creates value

People

Dedicated to delivering outstanding performance, customer and vendor satisfaction.

Expertise

Provides a wealth of industry insight, industry-leading marketplace capability, innovative financing, marketing and business generation tools, technical expertise and decades of distribution experience for hybrid solutions.

Relationships

Established long-lasting and strategic vendor engagements and contracts which are leveraged to ensure its partners can access established and emerging technology solutions.

Over 30 years' distribution success as a strategic partner to the world's leading IT brands.

Combines global reach, digital capability, technology capability and scale with a personalised, local footprint to provide capabilities and services that vastly exceed the traditional distribution experience.

Solutions

Westcon International selects market-leading vendor solutions and delivers outstanding propositions.

It remains focused on process improvement, automation, both front office sales automation and back office efficiency with an emphasis on accuracy, quality and urgency in all functions

Culture

Offers employees rewarding and challenging work in an inspiring, fast-moving environment.

It has established an inclusive culture where people are valued and respected and where everyone can contribute, thrive, collaborate and reach their full potential.

Impacts of Westcon International's external environment on its ability to create value

Numerous factors, such as global macroeconomic and political conditions, global supply chain disruptions, the ongoing impact of raised interest rates on prices and inflation pressures could all impact Westcon International's ability to create value.

Ongoing global semiconductor shortages and supply chain constraints have eased significantly in recent months resulting in a decrease to Westcon International's product backlog. Headwinds from current levels of interest rates, compounded by geopolitical issues and global inflationary pressures could negatively impact demand for the foreseeable future

Opportunities

Trends in the technology segments in which Westcon International participates are forecast to show continued growth in the short to medium term. The division is well-positioned to benefit from continuing demand for software and services in cyber security and cloud infrastructure and is expecting to see a return to growth for networking technologies. Cyber security threats remain a strategic risk for all organisations across the globe with a growing number of sophisticated cyber-attacks. Westcon International helps address these risks by making it easier for its channel partners to procure and manage an increasingly complex range of products and solutions.

The multi-year investments in advanced systems and business automation, expansion of a class-leading vendor portfolio, professional and financial services with the focus on portfolio expansion of software and subscription-based solutions make it easy for channel partners to engage with Westcon International and assist them in navigating this complex environment. During FY25, Westcon International continued to evolve its leading data and analytics platform. The division is delivering enhanced digital experiences for the entire sales force and its channel partners. This data-driven sales motion is expected to deliver incremental growth and enhanced productivity in the short term.

Markets

Modest overall gross invoiced income growth of 3.3% was experienced during FY25 for the division. The mix of sales of networking technologies declined overall by 8%, but was offset by a strong continued sales of cyber security technologies which contributed to an increased mix of 51%, up by 7% from the prior year.

Sustained demand for cyber security technologies ultimately continues to drive all markets. Despite the overall growth, the changing mix to sales of more products that are net accounted has meant that revised reported revenues have declined by 11%. On a gross invoiced income basis, Europe experienced growth of 3.3% and Asia-Pacific revenue grew by 8.5% while MEA declined by 7.7%, mainly due to demand slowing in challenging macroeconomic environments.