Insight to reduce costs in soft market

Corporate reseller posts decent Q3 results but looks to safeguard against reduced IT demand in soft climate

Insight Enterprises has become the latest corporate reseller to outline plans to cut its cost base as it lamented the worsening economy and predicted continued softness in Q4.

Revenue for the three months to 30 September was up five per cent on last year to $1.17bn (£740m) while net profit declined 26 per cent and stood at $6.7m. During the quarter the company also completed the acquisition of Elstree based reseller Minx. Insight snapped up the Cisco Gold Partner for $1.5m on 10 July (Channelweb, 11 July).

EMEA and Asia Pacific were fruitful regions for the firm with revenue up six and 20 per cent respectively. Services was another high growth segment with revenue more than doubling on Q3 2007. Chief executive Rich Fennessy claimed demand for IT was beginning to drop off and Insight predicted this situation would continue for the rest of the year.

"In the third quarter, the demand environment for IT solutions continued to be very challenging as the overall economy worsened, especially in September," said Fennessy. "In this environment, as we finish out 2008 and head into 2009, we are focused on optimising our new sales coverage model and taking actions to reduce our base infrastructure costs and discretionary spending."