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Viewing: Westcon International – Strategic progress / Next: Westcon International – Strategic risk management

Westcon International – Strategic progress

Westcon International has developed its strategy according to its core values, enabling its partners and improving their business potential and performance. Westcon International's strategic framework aims to create value for all stakeholders via five strategic foundations that define its priorities, namely: exemplary financial performance, robust data capabilities, exceptional partner experience, talented people and commitment to responsible business.

Goals and strategic foundation FY24 – FY27
FY25 strategic progress

Westcon International made strong progress in FY25, delivering solid financial results while advancing key strategic initiatives outlined in its objective, goals, strategies and measures ("OGSM") framework. The division achieved US$5.2 billion in gross invoiced income and US$149.9 million in adjusted EBITDA, reflecting continued top-line growth and improved profitability.

This performance was underpinned by a 13% year-over-year increase in EBITDA, driven by margin improvements, disciplined SG&A management, and enhanced working capital efficiency.

The division also reported a notable shift in revenue mix, with recurring revenues increasing and Cisco's contribution declining from 37% to 31%, signalling successful diversification of the vendor portfolio. Cyber security and software segments showed strong momentum.

Operationally, Westcon International improved its net working capital position, reducing inventory from US$264 million to US$218 million, and achieved a higher gross margin despite foreign exchange volatility.

Westcon International also made strides in digital enablement and data-driven selling, although internal reviews suggest that execution excellence and customer orientation still have room for improvement, based on OGSM pillar ratings.

Strategically, the leadership team reaffirmed its commitment to the FY26 objectives, emphasising the need for sharper focus, fewer initiatives and stronger alignment across regions.

Below are the FY25 strategic objectives as published in the previous year, as well as Westcon International's progress against these objectives:

2025 strategic priority 2025 delivery  
Sales and growth driven    
Achieve strong profitable sales growth >10% Achieved 3% growth overall – strong cyber security gross invoiced income was offset by a decline in networking technology gross invoiced income In progress
Achieve improved gross margin percentage >8% Gross margin on gross invoiced income was 8.4% – with transactional margins being maintained across Westcon International In progress
Solutions portfolio    
Recurring revenues to represent 65% of total revenues Recurring revenues now account for 66% of all sales In progress
Operational excellence    
Positively impact productivity through continued roll-out of process automation and capabilities utilising digital technologies – achieve improvement to productivity ratio in every sub-region Productivity improved by 6.9% with further operational leverage improvement achieved in every region In progress
Organisational operating improvement – achieve a gross profit to adjusted EBITDA conversion ratio >40% 34% gross profit to adjusted EBITDA conversion achieved In progress
Digital and data leadership    
Transition to a digitally-enabled sales company – embed sales process optimisation tooling across the business and drive adoption of the unified sales methodology A global lead for digital sales, reporting directly to the CEO, has been appointed In progress
Data and analytics minimum literacy standards established across the entire organisation First level data literacy training courses rolled out across the division In progress
Pilot and deploy generative AI use cases that have the highest positive impact on the human experience AI use case pilots are underway In progress
Responsible business    
Execution of 2024 ESG initiatives in line with reporting obligations All objectives have been achieved and Westcon International remains on track to meet its long-term commitments In progress
Achieved  - Achieved In progress  - In progress Not achieved  - Not achieved
2024 strategic objectives still in progress at date of 2024 report

The strategic objectives below were noted as not achieved or still in progress in the previous year's integrated report. The progress against these objectives is outlined in the table above.

  • Achieve strong profitable sales growth >10%
  • Organisational operating improvement – achieve a gross profit to adjusted EBITDA conversion ratio >30%

In executing its strategy, certain trade-offs are often required to be made, and decisions about trade-offs are made after careful consideration of the risks and rewards present in each case. During FY25, Westcon International experienced modest growth overall, with a decline in networking technology sales more than offset by continued strong demand for cyber security solutions. Gaining market share, territory expansion with existing vendors and bringing new vendors to existing markets requires investment and competitive pricing strategies which all come with a degree of risk.