Argyrides: After a rather turbulent nevertheless successful 2006, we are looking into 2007 quite optimistically with the goal of increasing our market share and profitability while serving the region to the best of our abilities. KSA and Pakistan are two of the countries where we are emphasising and investing a whole lot in 2007. In the GCC, we are, as always trying our best to hold ourselves up on the list as the distributor of choice for the channel. In-country presence, local availability, and value-addition are our main goals and strategies in 2007.

RWME: Tell us about your partnerships with the vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft and Intel?

Argyrides: Our cooperation with most of these vendors goes long back and is extended even further than the ME, in our European operations. As you can judge from our product portfolio, Logicom prefers to deal with a carefully selected number of first-class vendors. The quality of our products is as important as the quality of our service. We treat each vendor uniquely and do our best to maintain a healthy and ongoing business relationship.

We are looking into 2007 quite optimistically with the goal of increasing our market share and profitability while serving the region to the best of our abilities.

Our proven track record in building channel business where suppliers had no organised distribution has proven imperative in attracting our vendors’ attention. Moreover, we have consistently invested where they needed support and they knew they could trust the financial strength and fact that we are a transparent public company with corporate governance and ethos.

At the end of the day, it is has to be a win/win situation for both parties. We will always perform well or be a “key distributor” if we see the support and the return on investment from each supplier. Vendors such as the ones you mentioned above have been by our side when it comes to our requirements as a distributor and therefore, the long-lasting and strong relationship between them and us.

RWME: Last year was not a happy one for distributors in the channel because of the credit fiasco. Has Logicom recovered from that?

Argyrides: The Channel, especially the distributors, has learnt a whole lot from last year’s experience. And so did we, at Logicom. We are continuing to work on recovering the debts. Nevertheless, the important lesson here is to not let anything take you down and move on. That’s exactly what we have been doing and last year’s financial results prove this. We are stepping into 2007 even stronger.

RWME: Do you think there are more resellers now insured on the street?

Argyrides: Absolutely. At least at Logicom, we made sure to cover ourselves as much as possible by signing with a Credit Insurance Company and by carefully filtering customers before offering credit. When you offer credit to the market, risk can never be eliminated of course but one should continuously strive to at least diminish it at all times.

RWME: What are Logicom’s plans coinciding with the commercial availability of VISTA in the market?

Argyrides: We definitely expect our MS overall sales to be inflated due to the Vista. In addition, we expect some of our hardware brand sales to increase based on the fact that certain users will update their whole infrastructure in order to accommodate for the Vista min requirements. In general, the launch of the Vista (and the Office 2007) came in a very good time (at the beginning of our fiscal year) and it did played role in our planning/budgeting for 2007.

RWME: Over the past year, has Logicom added any new vendor partnerships?

Argyrides: We are always in discussion with vendors whom we believe can complement our existing product portfolio and, consequently, add value into our offerings to the Channel. A good example in 2006 was the addition of TrendMicro as a Security/AV brand, which can complement both our software lines and networking lines. For example, Trend Micro has an alliance with Cisco and the two vendors cooperate on numerous technologies. At Logicom we are now able to utilize this partnership and generate a value-add offer to our customers. In 2007, we do have plans of adding new and existing vendors with more emphasis in regions such as KSA and Pakistan.