CHENNAI (Reuters) – Redington (India) Ltd, the country’s biggest Apple and IT products distributor, reported a 2% fall in third-quarter profit on Wednesday, as ballooning expenses countered record revenue.
For Redington, which distributes electronic products made by Apple and Dell among others, consolidated profit slipped to 3.8 billion rupees ($46.4 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31.
Companies across the globe have had to battle higher transportation and raw material costs as the Russia-Ukraine war led to an increase in the prices of several major commodities.
Redington’s expenses rose about 32% to 212.2 billion rupees, narrowly outpacing a near-31% jump in revenue from operations to a record 216.74 billion rupees.
The company said revenue from Singapore, India and South Asia (SISA) increased nearly 29%, while that from the rest of the world, including the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, rose around 32%.
Chennai-based Redington’s topline went up even as the gadget distributor cautioned demand for remote-working equipment likely declined with people gradually returning to offices.
High inflation and interest rates as well as weaker currencies in markets where Redington operates posed further challenges.
Redington shares, which rose 25% in 2022 and 2% last month, closed over 1% lower at 182.65 rupees on Wednesday.
($1 = 81.8750 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
