By John Revill
ZURICH, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Logitech International on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected profit for the second quarter, with the computer mouse and keyboard maker seeing higher demand for its gaming and video conferencing devices.
The Swiss-U.S. company reported non-GAAP operating income of $231 million for the three months to the end of September, beating forecasts for $204 million in a consensus gathered by Visible Alpha and the company’s own guidance for $185 million to $210 million.
Sales rose 3% to $1.22 billion, in line with analyst forecasts and towards the upper end of the company’s own outlook of $1.19 billion to $1.22 billion.
CEO Hanneke Faber said Logitech had come through a difficult period marked by tight component sourcing, higher costs and the conflict in the Middle East.
“Even as global PC shipments declined by 20% in the quarter, our pointing devices and keyboards grew by mid single digits, demonstrating our growth opportunity comes from the large installed PC base,” she told analysts on a call.
Innovation, including products like matcha and latte-coloured mice, had helped the company grow sales in that category, while 15 new products in the gaming category boosted sales there.
Sales of video collaboration equipment rose 12% as business customers refreshed their workplaces after encouraging staff back to the office.
“Video collaboration demand is strong and we expect it to continue to be strong,” Faber said. “It’s not discretionary. You need to refresh those rooms, you need expanded office space if you are going to ask people to come back to work.”
Faber said there was strong demand from healthcare and government customers.
Logitech also said it had suffered a lower-than-expected impact from the forced closure at a factory of one of its semiconductor suppliers at the end of June, which it originally expected to cost it up to $200 million in lost sales in the next quarter.
After getting chips from other suppliers, the company said it now expects the impact to be $70 million to $80 million.
Logitech said its sales would be in the range of $1.36 billion to $1.43 billion for the three months to the end of December.
It also expects non-GAAP operating income of $220 million to $255 million down from $312 million a year earlier, due to higher component and transport costs, as well as the lost sales caused by the factory shutdown.
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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