2012 produced mixed signals, with electronic component shipments experiencing double-digit growth while total revenue contracted from the prior year. Rapidly changing global market dynamics also had a positive impact on our business and, as a result, we are more aggressively expanding our presence outside of the country.
At the same time, there are still some negative global market indicators which outweigh the positive signals as we begin 2013. In summary, here are some of the industry drivers and unknowns that are impacting this business:
- Inventory levels at both manufacturers and channel partners rival the historic highs seen in 2008
- The spread of counterfeit board-level components is still an important challenge that needs to be addressed.
A significant benefit to our business is that, as a privately held organization, we are immune to pressures from Wall Street. In 2013, the investor community will look for strong actions from public companies as inventory levels will need to be compensated for during the first half of the year.
Overall, we anticipate modest mid-single digit growth in 2013, back-end loaded in the second half of the year, once the market corrects itself. While the timing of top-line revenue recovery is harder to predict, we expect a significant increase in the number of stocked, new components to further stimulate strong levels of new demand creation activity.
