UPDATE 2-Ingram Micro profit tops expectations

* Q1 EPS ex-items 23 cents, beats Street view 13 cents

* Q1 revenue $6.75 bln, in line with Street

* Shares up 1 percent after-hours
(Adds CEO comments, other details)

By Gabriel Madway

SAN FRANCISCO, April 30 (Reuters) - Ingram Micro Inc
(IM.N), the world's largest computer products distributor,
reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as cost cuts
helped make up for a 21 percent slide in revenue.

The company said on Thursday that although it sees some
signs of improvement in its markets, it does not expect a pickup
in sales in the coming months, perhaps for the remainder of the
year.

"While the relative strength of March compared to the
earlier two months gave a sense of some optimism, we're not
prepared to declare substantial upswing," Chief Executive
Gregory Spierkel said on the company's conference call.

"The good news is that we don't feel the market is getting
worse at this stage."

Shares of the Santa Ana, California-based company rose 1
percent in after-hours trading to $14.68. The stock is up 10
percent over the past three months.

Ingram said it expects sales for the current quarter to
follow a "historical seasonal pattern," and that it will
continue to reduce expenses under the cost-cutting program it
announced in February.

Net profit fell to $27.5 million, or 17 cents a share, in
its fiscal first quarter ended April 4, from $64.1 million, or
37 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding 6 cents a share related to its expense reduction
program, Ingram's profit was 23 cents a share, well ahead of
the average analyst estimate of 13 cents, according to Reuters
Estimates.

Revenue fell 21 percent to $6.75 billion, in line with Wall
Street's estimate of $6.71 billion. The company said 8
percentage points of the decline were due to the translation
impact of weaker foreign currencies.

Gross margin of 5.65 percent was essentially flat with a
year ago.

North American sales fell 16 percent, EMEA sales dropped 26
percent, and Asia-Pacific sales slid 24 percent.

Ingram expects its cost-savings program to save it $100
million to $120 million a year when fully implemented. The
company said it has reduced headcount by around 8 percent, or
roughly 1,100 jobs.
(Reporting by Gabriel Madway, editing by Leslie Gevirtz and
Matthew Lewis)