Insight EMEA sales dip as exchange rates impact Q2 numbers

Insight CEO Ken Lamneck credits hardware and cloud sales for overall sales boost

Insight's EMEA sales dipped slightly in Q2, with CEO Ken Lamneck claiming that hardware and cloud services demand drove business growth during the quarter.

Insight saw its EMEA net sales rise six per cent to $417.4m for the three months ending 30 June. However, exclude the effect of currency fluctuations and net sales in EMEA actually fell by four per cent during the quarter.

Earnings from operations and gross profit in EMEA also slipped on a constant currency basis, declining one per cent and three per cent year-over-year respectively. Without adjusting for currency exchange rates, the EMEA business enjoyed an eight per increase in earnings from operations to $19.3m and an eight per cent year-on-year increase in gross profit to $73.5m.

Overall, net sales for the business were $2.23bn which was up 13 per cent from the same quarter last year, while earnings from operations for the business were $88.5 million, an increase of 19 per cent.

Outgoing CEO Ken Lamneck said the company's second quarter rise in overall net sales was driven partly by a demand for hardware, along with its cloud solutions.

"Hardware booking trends continued strong throughout the second quarter, given the ongoing supply constraints and longer lead times required for hardware orders," he said.

"Our clear strategy and deep expertise in delivering digital solutions allowed us to grow cloud sales, SaaS and infrastructure as a service, high double digits in the quarter.

"We're happy with our team's continued operational execution in the second quarter and our visibility in the second half gives us confidence in guiding net sales at the high-end of our range as well as increasing our EPS guidance."

The company's adjusted earnings from operations figure increased six per cent to $97.7m overall, while gross profit increased 13 per cent to $366.7m. Adjusted diluted earnings per share stood at $1.91, an increase of nine per cent.

Lamneck said that the supply issues meant the company had exited its second quarter with "further elevated backlog levels" but hoped roughly half of these orders would be cleared in its third quarter.

"We're pleased to see the pipeline for future sales builds and healthy levels for the second half of the year and into 2022," he added.