Insight's EMEA profits rocket 114 per cent in Q4

One 'very large, significant' transaction gives region an end-of-year boost

Insight's EMEA unit had a bumper end to the year, with net profits more than doubling, but it was thanks to one massive deal which is not expected to be repeated.

For the three months to 31 December 2016, net profits at Insight overall grew 14 per cent annually to $21.1m (£16.8m), on net sales which over the same period jumped six per cent to $1.5bn. In EMEA, sales were up six per cent to $361.8m, but earnings from operations in the region skyrocketed 114 per cent to $9.3m.

When quizzed on an earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, about its EMEA margins, Insight's CFO Glynis Bryan said Insight had one massive, one-off win in the quarter.

"In the fourth quarter we had one very large, significant transaction that drove that outstanding performance that we had in EMEA and that is not expected to be duplicated in 2017," she said. "So as a significant transaction it was very profitable; it drove that bottom line in EMEA."

Insight's CEO Ken Lamneck added that the EMEA region is progressing well on its journey towards selling services.

"Our EMEA business has been on a multi-year journey to transform to a cloud- and services-oriented business," he said. "In order to fund these initiatives, the team is focused on improving the sales execution and profitability of the core business. Over the past few years the EMEA team has more than doubled the earnings from operations of the business and revitalised the sales engagement model. At the same time they've expanded their services offerings around licence and cloud consulting services and introduced new managed services offerings across the region.

"In 2017 our EMEA business continues with the same strategy with a focus on getting new clients, share, and market relevance in key markets, scaling solutions and selling more broadly in region, driving high-performance sales organisation, and improving the performance of certain underperforming markets."