Exchange rates carpet bomb Insight EMEA performance

Exchange rates have had an effect on Insight performance in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

While the company saw higher levels of net sales in both North America (up four percent) and APAC (19 percent), EMEA was flat.  Had fluctuating exchange rates not been a problem EMEA figures would have been a respectable 16 percent.

Gross profit in EMEA was also down by seven per cent year on year to $51.8 million compared to a 12 percent increase in North America and 13 per cent in APAC for the three months ended 30 September.

If fluctuating exchange rates had been taken out of the equation, consolidated gross profit would have been 11 percent and consolidated earnings from operations would have risen by ten per cent.

Insight’s business balance is moving towards software and services. Software sales rose by three percent in Q3 and 12 percent over the course of the fiscal year. Services improved by four percent and hardware sales dipped by six percent. Net products sales were down by a percent and services rose by four percent

Joyce Mullen, president and chief executive officer at Insight, said that she was pleased with the third quarter performance: “I am pleased to report that we delivered another quarter of solid results driven by double-digit gross profit growth and continued strength in cloud solutions, which grew 27 percent.”

Mullen recently told the Canalys Channel Forum event that the outfit was coping with headwinds despite the economic volatility.

“We need to make sure we are building and creating more value for clients. We do that by focusing on the fastest growing areas of the industry.”