Redington profit falls 21% as expenses rise, demand slows

India’s Redington reported a 21% fall in quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the technology devices distributor wrestled with higher expenses at a time when demand for work-from-home equipment also slowed.

The Chennai-based company, which distributes IT products of global giants like Apple and Dell Technologies, said net profit dropped to 2.49 billion rupees ($30.3 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 3.16 billion rupees a year earlier.

Corporations globally are reeling from the impact of higher expenses, partly due to higher interest rates, while several firms including Redington are also investing heavily to digitize their businesses more.

The company reported expenses climbing 27%, which ate into its bottomline.

A pandemic-led demand for consumer electronics, including smartphones and personal computers, is fading as people are spending more time in physical schools and offices, denting demand for work- and learn-from-home equipment.

Revenue from operations rose 26% to 211.87 billion rupees but dropped 3% sequentially.

Revenue from its rest of the world unit, which makes up more than half of its topline and includes the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, dropped around 5% from the previous quarter even as it jumped 29% from a year earlier.

Shares of Redington closed 1.6% higher ahead of its results, with the stock up just over 1% this year. Reuters