US-listed Insight's second quarter of 2019 reported flat net sales compared year on year, while gross profit increased 4% and gross margin increased 60 basis points compared to the second quarter of 2018. The increase in gross profit and gross margin primarily reflects an increase in higher margin services net sales, including cloud solutions, and higher margins on hardware net sales. Earnings from operations decreased 3% and diluted earnings per share decreased 4%, year to year, primarily as a result of acquisition-related expenses incurred in the current quarter compared to the same period in the prior year.
Net sales in EMEA decreased 7% year to year to $379.2m; gross profit in EMEA increased 4% year over year to $64.5 million with a17.0% gross margin. For the full year 2019, excluding the pending acquisition of PCM, the Company expects to deliver sales growth in the low single digit range compared to 2018.
“In the second quarter we executed well against our strategy to deliver IT solutions to our clients globally, leading with services and solutions that drive business outcomes for our clients and result in improved profitability for our business. We also announced plans to acquire PCM, Inc. to strategically expand our scale and reach with new clients in North America and EMEA,” stated Ken Lamneck, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our execution so far in 2019 has driven earnings results ahead of our expectations and our core business is on track to exceed our previously stated financial targets for 2019 while we also work to expeditiously close the acquisition and begin integrating PCM’s business into ours"
