SED International Announces Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results

SED International Holdings, Inc. (Amex: SED), a multinational supply chain management provider and distributor of leading computer technology, consumer electronics, small appliances, housewares and personal care products, today announced financial results for the Company’s second quarter and the first six months of fiscal year 2012, which ended December 31, 2011.

Second Fiscal Quarter 2012 Financial Highlights

• Quarterly net revenue decreased 3.8% to $150.9 million from $157 million in last year's comparable period due primarily to an industry-wide disk drive shortage related to flooding in Thailand, the location of major suppliers of disk drive and drive components.
• Gross profit percent increased to 9.0%, an increase of 55.2%, to $13.6 million compared to 5.8% or $9.1 million in the comparable period last year.
• Operating income increased 246% to $4.3 million compared to operating income of $1.2 million in the comparable period last year; net income increased 326% to $3.8 million compared to net income of $0.9 million in the comparable period last year.
• EBITDA grew 229% year-over-year to a record $4.6 million compared to $1.4 million. As of December 31, 2011 cash and cash equivalents were $7.5 million, net trade receivables were $58.5 million, net inventories were $55.7 million and working capital was $21.3 million
• SED’s Return on Invested Capital, or ROIC, for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 was 19.4%.

"SED delivered strong bottom-line results, due primarily to robust holiday sales and a favorable product mix,” said Jonathan Elster, president and chief executive officer of SED International. "The e-commerce segment, where we have made considerable investments, was a major driver of our holiday sales strength and our results benefitted from a more favorable product mix. While an industry-wide shortage of hard drives from a tragic natural disaster in Thailand resulted in lower revenues, margins improved due to the scarce supply and our careful management of the supply chain. I am proud of our success in continuing to deliver product to a broad base of customers in this tough environment by closely managing our inventory on hand and working with our vendor partners to secure incremental supply. We experienced solid growth in the housewares, small appliances, and personal care categories, both at the top- and bottom-lines, as a result of our ability to integrate and execute an important and strategic acquisition.”

Second Fiscal Quarter 2012 Financial Results

Net revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2011 decreased $6.0 million, or 3.8%, to $150.9 million from $157 million in last year's comparable period, primarily due to the hard drive shortage. Gross profit was $13.6 million, or 9.0% gross margin, compared to $9.1 million, or 5.8% gross margin in the comparable period last year. Total operating expenses were $9.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 compared to $7.9 million for the year-ago period. Operating expenses as a percentage of sales were 6.2% compared to 5.0% in the year-ago period. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the second quarter were $8.9 million or 5.9% of revenue, compared to $7.2 million, or 4.6% of revenue, for the year-ago quarter.

The Company reported operating income of approximately $4.3 million in the second quarter compared to operating income of $1.2 million in the second quarter last year. Net income was $3.8 million, or $0.79 per basic and $0.78 per diluted share compared to net income of approximately $0.9 million, or $0.19 per basic and $0.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago period. For the second fiscal quarter of 2012, adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, was approximately $4.6 million compared to approximately $1.4 million in the prior year second quarter.

Mr. Elster continued, "SED delivered sequential and year-over-year improvement in net income on slightly lower revenues, demonstrating our ability to manage through challenging market conditions and develop higher margin business categories. We are working very hard to mitigate the issues surrounding hard drive product availability and continue to partner closely with suppliers to maximize the amount of inventory we can procure to satisfy our customers’ needs. We expect a gradual improvement of availability and normalization of margins over the next two quarters.”

Year-to-Date Fiscal 2012 Results

Net revenue for the six months ended December 31, 2011 was $306.8 million compared to $298.6 million for last year's comparable period. For the six months, gross profit increased to $21.2 million, or 6.9% gross margin, compared to gross profit of $16.3 million or 5.5% gross margin in last year's same period. Total operating expenses were $18.4 million, or 6.0% of revenue for the six months ended December 31, 2011 compared to $13.9 million, or 4.7% of revenue for the year-ago period. Operating income was $2.7 million compared to operating income of $2.4 million in the same period last year. Net income was $2.9 million or $0.61 income per basic and $0.60 per diluted share compared to net income of $1.6 million, or $0.35 per basic and $0.32 per fully diluted share in the year ago period.

For the first six months of fiscal 2012, non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA was $3.3 million compared to $2.8 million in the same period last year.

The Company generated approximately $12.2 million in operating cash flow in the period ended December 31, 2011. Cash and equivalents were $7.5 million as of December 31, 2011 compared with $4.8 million as of June 30, 2011. Borrowings outstanding under SED’s revolving credit lines were $35.3 million as of December 31, 2011 compared with $38.4 million as of June 30, 2011. The decrease in current borrowing primarily reflects SED’s lower inventory levels. Shareholders’ equity was $25 million, or $5.05 per share as of December 31, 2011 compared to $22.7 million, or $4.67 per share as of June 30, 2011.

Mr. Elster concluded, "We continue our strategy of investing for the future. The successful integration of our acquisition, which has given us a strong foothold in a strategic channel and an additional U.S. distribution center, is on track and has already been effective in expanding our customer base and providing higher margin product mix. The distribution center, located in New Jersey, provides us the opportunity to deliver even faster turnaround and superior service to not only Northeastern U.S. customers, but also to our growing e-commerce fulfillment business.”

Conference Call

SED International management will host a teleconference and webcast today, Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Interested parties may participate in the conference call by dialing 1-877-941-1427 in the United States and 1-480-629-9664 internationally. For those unable to participate, an audio replay of the call will be available beginning approximately two hours following the conclusion of the live call through February 16, 2012. The audio replay may be accessed by dialing 1-877-870-5176 from the United States or 1-858-384-5517 internationally and entering access conference ID # 4506867.

The call also will be available as a live, listen-only webcast on the "Investor Relations” section of the SED International website at http://www.sedonline.com. Following the live webcast, an online archived webcast will also be available at the SED International website.

About SED International Holdings, Inc.

Founded in 1980, SED International Holdings, Inc. is a multinational, preferred distributor of leading computer technology, consumer electronics, small appliances, housewares, and personal care products. The company also offers custom-tailored supply chain management services ideally suited to meet the priorities and distribution requirements of the e-commerce, Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer markets. Headquartered near Atlanta, Georgia with business operations in California; Florida; Georgia; New Jersey; Texas; Bogota, Colombia and Buenos Aires, Argentina, SED serves a customer base of over 10,000 channel partners and retailers in the US and Latin America. To learn more, please visit www.SEDonline.com; or follow us on Twitter @SEDIntl.

Safe Harbor

Statements made in this Press Release that are not historical or current facts are "forward-looking statements.”These statements often can be identified by the use of terms such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "approximate" or "continue," or the negative thereof. The Company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Any forward-looking statements represent management's best judgment as to what may occur in the future. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and important factors beyond the control of the Company that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from historical results of operations and events and those presently anticipated or projected. These factors include adverse economic conditions, entry of new and stronger competitors, inadequate capital, unexpected costs, failure to gain product approval in foreign countries and failure to capitalize upon access to new markets. The Company disclaims any obligation to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statement or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. These factors and others are discussed in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis" section of the Company's Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q available at www.sec.gov.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes the non-GAAP financial measure earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, and gain on acquisition, ("EBITDA”). This non-GAAP term, as defined by the Company, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles. Items excluded from EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income, operating income and other consolidated earnings data prepared in accordance with GAAP or as a measure of our profitability. The Company’s management believes that EBITDA represents a key operating metric for its business and this measure is useful to investors. A reconciliation of EBITDA to GAAP Net Income for the three and six months ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 is included with this press release.