Avnet, Inc. (AVT) recently reported revenues of $4.36 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, down 3.1% from a year ago. Excluding the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rates, revenues declined 0.6%.

Management stated that the impact of global slowdown led to the year-over-year decline, but the business environment is improving.

On a segment basis, Electronics Marketing (EM) sales came in at $2.44 billion, down 9.8% year over year (down 8.0% when adjusted to exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates). The rate of revenue decline moderated in the reported quarter and management is encouraged by pace of bookings for this segment in recent months.

Technology Solutions (TS) generated sales of $1.92 billion, up 6.9% year over year (up 10.5% when adjusted to exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates), driven by growth in Americas and Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA).

The company

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Avnet, Inc. (AVT) recently announced that it has acquired a controlling interest in Vanda Group from Hutchinson Whampoa Limited in a strategic move to expand its presence and customer base across China. Vanda Group will operate as an Avnet company while maintaining its current operations, management team and the Vanda brand. Vanda Group is a leading IT solutions and services provider covering major cities in China, Hong Kong and Macau, and has been around 27 years. Vanda Group provides systems integration services and solutions incorporating hardware and software from major suppliers including IBM (IBM), Lenovo, Cisco (CSCO), Sun (JAVA), Nokia (NOK) and Oracle (ORCL). The company serves clients from diverse industries including major banks, financial institutions, telecommunications companies, utilities and government departments. Vanda Group generated revenues of approximately $50 million in 2008 and employs more than 600 people. The transaction will ...