Arrow posts record first quarter

Consolidated sales grew 10% over the first quarter of 2006, or 5% on a pro forma basis including the impact of acquisitions. The company's results for the first quarters of 2007 and 2006 include a number of items outlined below that impact their comparability. "We once again executed well on our strategic and tactical objectives this quarter. We outgrew the market, posted record first quarter sales and earnings per share, grew earnings at twice the rate of sales organically, generated strong operating cash flow of $114 million and for the 13th consecutive quarter return on invested capital was well in excess of our cost of capital, all as we continue to invest in our business ensuring continued value creation for our business partners and our shareholders," said William E. Mitchell, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Arrow Electronics, Inc. "In the first quarter, we received favorable ratings changes from both Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. Our strong cash flow and solid balance sheet have enabled us to pursue strategic initiatives while maintaining a strong credit profile," added Paul J. Reilly, senior vice president and chief financial officer, Arrow Electronics, Inc. Worldwide computer products sales of $776.0 million increased 33% over the first quarter of 2006, while sales for our enterprise computing solutions business increased 12% on a pro forma basis including the impact of the acquisitions of Alternative Technology, Inc. and the storage and security distribution business of InTechnology plc. "We achieved our 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth driven by strong double-digit increases in industry standard servers, storage, software and services, which significantly outpaced market growth in these segments. On March 31st, we closed on our acquisition of the Agilysys KeyLink Systems Group and successfully integrated KeyLink's people, systems and facilities. We continue to transform our industry leading enterprise computing solutions business into a much stronger organization with an expanded geographic reach, increased exposure in faster growing product segments, and a more robust customer and supplier base. With increased scale and greater levels of operating efficiency, we will further strengthen our industry leading financial performance, while significant cross selling opportunities will further accelerate our growth in the global enterprise computing solutions marketplace," said Mr. Mitchell.