Azlan upbeat on trading

Sales. profits up

Azlan today issued an upbeat trading statement, announcing that revenues and pre-tax profits for the year to March 31, 2002 will be up on last year.

Sales will be approx. £610m (2001: £592
million) and pre-tax profits will exceed £18 million (2001: £16.1 million). The networking equipment vendor also said it generated positive cashflow in the year.

Azlan's performance is little short of miraculous considering that the market for datanetworking equipment is so poor - witness last year's results of Cisco, Nortel, Enterasys et al. Secondly, the market for manufacturer certification training - Azlan is Europe's biggest supplier - is also in the doldrums.

According to Azlan it is gaining market share in distribution, and notes that vendors are pruning their rosters of wholesalers, to its benefit.

It concedes that the training business "experienced a markedly more difficult environment" as the economy deteriorated during the course of the year. But it continues to introduce new product lines, this month taking on Enterasys and RSA certification. ®