Rust denies he's the top dog

Ingram Micro Australia boss Steve Rust on Tuesday denied he was selected to lead the merged Ingram Micro/Tech Pacific organisation saying any reported announcement about the role was "premature."

A report on Monday claimed that Rust had been given the green light to undertake the top position at the merged company following the completion of the acquisition this week.

He claimed he hadn't heard anything to date about the role, adding that "no announcement has been made regarding the country management position - any reported announcement is premature and as far as I know has no substance."

Meanwhile, the US-based mother company Ingram Micro announced the completion of the Tech Pacific acquisition. Ingram Micro chairman and CEO Kent Foster said: "We now have a profitable, powerful engine in a growing part of the world - completing our strong operations in North America, Europe and Latin America while enhancing our role as the only global IT distributor."

The US$700 million acquisition was financed from available cash-on-hand and debt from the company's current capacity. Acquisition-related interest costs for fiscal year 2005 are expected to be about US$26 million, the company said.

Incremental revenues for Q4, 2004 were estimated at US$350 million. For fiscal year 2005, incremental revenues were estimated at US$400 million due to overlapping markets in combined countries and operating margins on the net revenues for the year were expected to be two percent, before integration costs, the company said.

Integration costs were expected to be around US$15 million through fiscal 2005, the company said.