IT distie Fayrewood PLC has returned to the black in 2007 after slimming down its biz units.

For the year ended 31 December 2007 the firm saw pre-tax profit from continuing operations of £936,000 compared to a loss of £242,000 for 2006. Revenue from continuing operations rose to £129.5m compared to £122.3m for the same period a year earlier.

HP has administered a public thrashing to a computer dealer for lying over where the vendor's kit was going to gain bigger reseller discounts.

Computer distie Northamber intends to return £2.94m, or ten pence a share, to shareholders because it is surplus to working capital requirements.

The Surrey-based firm said yesterday that the proposed return of cash will be made by splitting existing ordinary shares into new ordinary shares and C shares, as well as the expected acquisition of the C shares by stockbroker Walker Crips.

IT distributor Tech Data saw shares rise more than three per cent on Wall Street yesterday after it posted strong fourth quarter results and a positive sales outlook.

IT equipment distributor Northamber PLC reported a first half rise in pre-tax profit and revenue helped by a moderate trading recovery and an overheads cutback.

The Surrey-based firm saw pre-tax profit for the six months ended 31 December 2007 of £453,000 compared to £369,000 for the same period a year earlier.

Dimension Data has declared it is on course to deliver healthy first half results, despite seeing slightly slower growth than last year.

The IT services firm said in an interim management statement (pdf) today that the outlook for the group for the six months ended 31 March remained "favourable".

DCC Plc today scaled back its operating profit growth expectations for the year ended 31 March 2008, saying it had been hampered by weaker sterling.

The Irish business services group said in an interim trading statement that its sterling profits had suffered against the euro towards the end of the third quarter.

A senior Ingram Micro Europe exec has said that the channel is paying too much attention to fears of an economic downturn.

Instead, said Johan Vandenbussche, vice president of the firm's pan-European business unit, keeping its chin up and taking a positive outlook should help the channel swerve any recession.

IT disty Azlan confirmed today that it has restructured its European management team.

It said in a statement that Uwe Stein has taken on the newly-created role of director for the firm's European marketing division, while Ruediger Gunther steps into Stein's previous position as director of Azlan's European midrange systems and software unit.

Computacenter Distribution (CCD) has poached Phil King from rival SCH to run its new software division.

The firm's biz unit director Lee Perkins told The Register that CCD decided to step into the burgeoning software marketplace following demands from its customers.

System builder and IT distributor Horizon Technology Group said today that revenue fell below expectations in the last quarter partly because of a dip in orders in December.

Fayrewood Plc confirmed yesterday that it had sold French outfit Banque Magnetique SAS to DCC Plc's retail disty subsidiary.

IT distie Fayrewood Plc has confirmed that it is in talks with potential bidder North Atlantic Value LLP.

IT distie Computer 2000 (C2000) has beefed up its storage biz unit by hiring Jonathan Crew as business manager.

Microsoft has won a seven figure sum from a distributor found guilty of selling tens of thousands of items of dodgy software.

IT distie Fayrewood PLC revealed today that it has been in secret talks with a third party company which could lead to an offer to buy all or part of the firm.

The announcement follows a close to 14 per cent jump in Fayrewood shares today on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

IT equipment distie Northamber PLC said its first quarter sales had failed to grow on the same period a year ago.

DCC Plc today reported interim figures that showed its IT distribution businesses being hit by deflation.

Total revenue at Ireland-based DCC was up by a quarter to nearly €2.3bn year on year.

Avnet today bought itself another distributor, this time a networking and security specialist in Australia called Channelworx.

Terms are undisclosed for the company, which pulled in US$30m revenues for the year to June 30. Channelworx is to be integrated into Avnet Technology Solution's Australia business.

It brings to the party a presence in Melbourne, 300 channel customers, some meaty networking hardware franchises and an experienced storage networking team. ®

IT distie Midwich has acquired a majority share in Invision UK Ltd.

Midwich finance director Stephen Fenby said its takeover of audio-visual (AV) distie True Colours in April this year helped the firm decide to do the deal with Invision, a trade-only distie of home technology products.