PCM deal delivering results for Insight

Insight Enterprises started to feel the benefit of the PCM acquisition instantly with the purchase contributing to its third quarter numbers. 

The deal to acquire PCM was concluded on 30 August and the results for the three months ended just a month later at the end of September showed an increase in net sales, by 9% to $1.91bn, which was largely down to the performance of the latest addition. Gross profit also increased 18% to $276.2m, compared to the same period last year. 

Plans to pick up PCM were originally announced in June with the purchase providing Insight with extra muscle on both sides of the Atlantic. The firm came with more than 40 offices in the US, Canada as well as the UK and 4,000 staff. 

The firm sells into public sector customers in government and education in the UK, as well as SMEs and enterprises, which helped drive net sales. 

Insight also saw its gross profit and gross margin numbers improve, which was seen as the result of the ongoing move towards higher margin services, including cloud solutions.  

“Our third quarter results reflect our strategy to leverage our four solution areas to optimize our business mix in higher margin categories, including cloud solutions and services, which led to a 100 basis point improvement in gross margin in the quarter. We also closed the PCM acquisition on 30 August 30 which expands our reach into higher margin end markets which we expect will provide opportunity to scale our business and drive additional margin improvement in the future,” said Ken Lamneck, President and CEO of Insight Enterprises.  

“Our differentiated solutions and disciplined operating model combined with PCM’s reach into the middle market will position us well to drive growth and deliver on our financial commitments as we head into 2020,” he added. 

The majority of the firm’s revenues are still coming from the US but in the third quarter net sales in EMEA increased 3% year over year to $355.7m and gross profit improved by 7%. 

The impact of PCM is expected to continue to be felt in the Q4 and full year numbers with Insight forecasting net sales growth between 9% and 11% compared to 2018.