Westcon-Comstor Announces Record Annual Sales Of US $5.24 Billion
Gross profit jumped 9.4% to $441 million (FY24: $403m), with strong and consistent growth in profitability in each of Westcon-Comstor's three operating regions: Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC).
Gross margin rose to 22.4% (FY24: 18.2%) on revenue of $1.97bn.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by nearly 25% to $149.9m (FY24: $120.2m), with a further improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin to 7.6% (FY24: 5.4%).
Gross sales from cybersecurity increased 19.3% year-on-year and accounted for more than half (51%) of Westcon-Comstor's gross sales in FY25. Growth was fuelled by an expansion of collaborations with cybersecurity vendors and the success of the distributor's value-added offerings for partners and vendors, spanning data, enablement and education.
Hardware now accounts for just a third (32%) of gross sales as Westcon-Comstor accelerates its transition away from traditional hardware towards recurring revenues based on annual subscriptions and cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) models.
Gross sales from software increased 22.2% to $2.33bn (FY24: $1.91bn), with software making up 44% of gross sales (FY24: 38%).
Recurring sales, for example from software and services, now represent 66% of gross sales (FY24: 60%), as Westcon-Comstor embraces solution lifecycle selling and moves to a recurring revenue model in line with the transformation journey being pursued by its partners and vendors.
FY25 also saw the distributor deepen relationships with core vendors across cybersecurity, networking and cloud, with a focus on delivering even greater value by increasing distribution-led sales.
This group of nine vendors accounted for 80% of gross sales during the year at $4.20bn, with year-on-year growth of 4.9% outstripping overall gross sales growth.
'I'm thrilled to mark another year of exceptional financial and operational performance, with strong progress against our core strategic objectives and a continued relentless focus on delivering partner success,' said David Grant, CEO at Westcon-Comstor. 'Distribution is evolving and we're proud to be at the forefront of this change, enabling partners and vendors to grow through our suite of value-added services and market-leading programmes. In a changing world, we are proud to be a future-ready business that combines best-in-class data and digital platforms with deep relationships, leading market shifts and anticipating change to empower our partners and vendors to stay ahead of the curve. I'd like to pay tribute to our 3,700-plus employees around the world for their dedication and creativity. Without our people and the ambitious culture they embody, results like this wouldn't be possible.'
'FY25 was a year of strong progress for Westcon-Comstor in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region,' said Rakesh Parbhoo, Executive Vice President, Middle East and Africa at Westcon-Comstor. 'Locally we saw an increase in profitability as our data-driven strategy and unique range of value-added services continued to bear fruit. With talented people across the region, a strong vendor portfolio and expertise in high-growth technology domains, we can look ahead with confidence to FY26 and the longer-term future.'
'With strong fundamentals and positive performance across key metrics, FY25 saw us maintain the growth trajectory that has characterised our business for the best part of a decade,' said Callum McGregor, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Westcon-Comstor. 'Despite the challenging backdrop of geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, FY26 offers opportunities for further growth thanks to our healthy sales pipeline, track record of innovation and strong relationships with partners and vendors.'
0 0
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Channel Post MEA
2 hours ago
- Channel Post MEA
Westcon-Comstor Empowers Partners To Excel In Evolving Digital Landscape
Rakesh Parbhoo, Executive Vice President, Middle East and Africa (MEA) at Westcon-Comstor shares insights into the strategies and initiatives the company, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, is adopting to empower its partners. He also explains how distributors are redefining value and differentiation to stay relevant in the backdrop of growth of hyperscaler marketplaces. How would you describe the constantly evolving landscape of distribution (Global and the Middle East And Africa)? For me, both globally and regionally we're at one of the most exciting and transformative points in the history of distribution and the channel more broadly. As cloud and AI revolutionise how businesses operate, and with the shift to recurring revenue models based on software, services and subscriptions, we at Westcon-Comstor feel better placed than ever to add value to partners and vendors. I believe that, in 2025, distributors are probably more accurately described as solution architects, technology aggregators and growth enablers. Our role today is to unlock new opportunities for partners and vendors, helping them navigate a changing market and new technologies through our value-added services and our data-driven approach. In my opinion, distribution has never occupied such a central and strategic role in the channel and the wider technology ecosystem. What are some of the challenges are you facing today and how do you intend to overcome them? Like every international business, we are keeping a close eye on the global macroeconomic picture and international trading conditions. At Westcon-Comstor we believe distribution has an important role to play in helping partners and vendors navigate change, particularly in times of economic uncertainty, and this is something we're committed to delivering on. As a distributor it's our responsibility to consistently demonstrate to partners and vendors the value we add. I'm not sure I'd describe this as a challenge, but it's certainly something we're mindful of at all levels of the business – hence our mantra of 'partner success, it's what we do'. This focusing on demonstrating value was also the rationale for our Future Ready initiative, which we launched in June to mark our 40th birthday as a business. The Future Ready initiative will see us explore key trends that are reshaping the channel through research, interviews with partners and vendors and insights from channel leaders, the aim being to enable partners and vendors to stay ahead of rapid technological change and evolving market dynamics. In terms of commercials, one trend we're seeing is a greater emphasis amongst vendors on us generating and evidencing distribution-led business, namely deals and transactions in which we have played a leading role. This is a big focus for us moving forward. Given the steady rise of B2B and B2C e-commerce, which direction is distribution heading? Distribution and the user journey around how partners and vendors engage with us is increasingly digital. Westcon-Comstor's PartnerCentral marketplace, for example, enables partners to discover, compare, procure and manage multi-vendor solutions in a frictionless and efficient self-service experience. PartnerCentral simplifies the procurement and management of recurring subscription and as-a-service offers at scale, making it easier to provide these to end customers. A key strength of e-commerce platforms is of course the immensely valuable data they bring, and this is an area where we're particularly proud of our capabilities at Westcon-Comstor. On the one hand we have Intelligent Demand, our proprietary, insights-driven lead generation programme that utilises predictive analytics to drive growth, enhance customer lifetime value and identify new markets for partners and vendors. We also have Partner Insights, which sits within PartnerCentral and allows partners to monitor key performance metrics, embedding a data-driven approach to performance analysis. Key use cases include the ability to monitor how hardware versus software and services spend with Westcon-Comstor is evolving over time. Partners can also compare growth and performance by vendor against industry benchmarks. What best can be done to ensure sustainable channel business and decent margins? Services is a high-growth, high-margin area that we are targeting as an area of focus for us and our partners over the next year and beyond. More broadly the shift to lifecycle selling and recurring revenue models is helping to ensure the long-term sustainability and viability of channel businesses. In our latest financial year recurring sales – for example from software and services – represented 66% of gross sales, up from 60% the previous year, as we evolve in line with the transformation journey being pursued by our partners and vendors. Distribution was historically a low-margin industry but as the sophistication of our offering grows we have an opportunity to change this by delivering ever-greater value. In the backdrop of growth of hyperscaler marketplaces, how are distributors redefining value and differentiation to stay relevant in the rapidly changing IT landscape. I'm proud to say that we recognised the strategic significance of this trend early, which is why last year we led the way in distribution with the launch of our AWS Marketplace programme. Based on the AWS Designated Seller of Record (DSOR) model, our programme unlocks new growth opportunities for partners by providing a streamlined and simplified route to transacting on AWS Marketplace – enabling them to sell where their customers want to buy. By harnessing the programme, partners can purchase and sell vendors' software solutions from Westcon-Comstor via private AWS Marketplace listings and sell directly to their customers in a frictionless, end-to-end process entirely within AWS Marketplace. Partners can access our advisory services and are supported by a dedicated team of specialists in the Middle East and beyond. The new team is focused purely on enabling partners to grow their AWS Marketplace business. Meanwhile the programme allows participating vendors including Check Point Software, Cisco, CrowdStrike, F5, Infoblox, Juniper Networks, Vectra AI and Zscaler to rapidly scale their cloud marketplace business. Our programme is empowering partners to win new customers and grow revenue with existing customers by seizing the AWS Marketplace opportunity, while securing the role of the channel in the cloud marketplace economy. Distribution is changing, and by using our expertise to help partners and vendors to maximise their AWS Marketplace growth we're showing the central, strategic role that we as a distributor play in today's technology ecosystem. Recently your Cisco-specialist arm, Comstor, launched a white-label managed SOC service for Cisco partners. What was the rationale behind the launch? The driver for the launch was partner demand. Many of our Cisco partners have been asking for this and we're really excited about announcing its availability. The opportunity in this space for partners is huge. The managed XDR (Extended Detection and Response) market is set to be worth between $8 billion and $10 billion by 2030 in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) alone, as end-user businesses seek more comprehensive threat detection and response solutions to ensure compliance while handling an increasing volume of security alerts and growing attack surfaces. Establishing a SOC involves significant initial investment and ongoing annualised costs. By deploying the Managed XDR SOC from Comstor, Cisco partners can save on these costs while sidestepping the technical and operational challenges associated with SOC development and maintenance, which can typically run to millions of dollars. This is the first managed SOC offering launched by Westcon-Comstor and the first to utilise Cisco XDR.
Tahawul Tech
2 hours ago
- Tahawul Tech
'Security is not just an add-on, it is a core part of the infrastructure'
Anjum Mushtaq, Distribution Manager, Cisco Gulf Region and Renton D'Souza, Vice President, Comstor MEA speak about the priorities and developments of Cisco Security within the wider portfolio in this exclusive interview. What are the top priorities for Cisco Security in 2025, and how are you addressing the challenges of the AI era? Anjum: Our top priorities revolve around embedding security deeper into the network, security suites enabling zero trust architectures, and innovating for the AI era. With the rise of agentic AI and increasingly sophisticated threats, we're introducing multiple solutions that allow organisations to simplify policy management, enhance visibility, and scale securely across hybrid and AI-driven environments. We're also leveraging AI for advanced threat detection and response, ensuring that security is not just an add-on but a core part of the infrastructure. How does the partnership between Comstor and Cisco help partners and customers access and deploy Cisco Security solutions more effectively? Renton: Comstor's deep alignment with Cisco means we offer specialised support and expertise that broadline distributors can't match. Our programs are tailored to Cisco's ecosystem, providing partners with training, enablement, and value-added services like staging, configuration, and logistics. Recently, our partnership expanded to include AWS Marketplace, allowing partners to access and procure Cisco's cybersecurity solutions more flexibly and efficiently—meeting customers where they want to buy and accelerating deployment and adoption. What innovations has Cisco introduced recently to help organisations secure hybrid and cloud environments? Anjum: We've launched several innovations, such as the Hybrid Mesh Firewall and Universal ZTNA, which provide distributed, identity-based zero trust protection for users, applications, and AI models. Our Security Cloud Control platform centralizes policy management, integrates with Splunk (now a Cisco company) for unified threat detection, and leverages AI to automate response. These solutions are designed to secure complex, distributed environments without adding operational complexity. How do Cisco and Comstor support partners in building expertise and growing their security business? Renton: We offer a range of bespoke sales and technical training courses, tailored campaigns, and funding aligned to Cisco's strategy. Our enablement programs help partners develop true competencies in Cisco Security, from managed services for SMBs to advanced enterprise deployments. Our unique Comstor Bot and partner portal streamline access to resources, making it easier for partners to maximise returns from Cisco's channel programs and incentives. Image Credit: Comstor & Cisco
Tahawul Tech
5 days ago
- Tahawul Tech
Aligned Edges Archives
Renton D'Souza from Comstor MEA and Bassel Zaraaneh from Aligned Edges explore how Cisco's unified security architecture is enabling enterprises to modernise and protect their digital infrastructure.
