Logitech tweaks supply chain to avoid US-China trade effects

Logitech said it changed the supply chain of its products and increased prices in the US.

Chief Executive Bracken Darrell of the computer peripherals maker Logitech addresses the company's annual news conference in Zurich, Switzerland April 26, 2017. (REUTERS)

Logitech International SA has side-stepped significant effects on its business from trade tensions between the U.S. and China, in part by anticipating potential problems with suppliers, Chief Executive Officer Bracken Darrell said.

"We changed supply chain, we're increasing prices in the U.S.," Darrell said Tuesday in an interview. So far, consumers haven't felt a "tangible" impact, but further steps might change that, he added.

Earlier, Logitech reported fiscal first-quarter sales increased 6% to $644 million, beating the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Shares rose 4.8% in Zurich, the biggest single-day jump in six months. The Swiss company's stock has gained 31% this year, after a 6% decline in 2018, valuing the computer-equipment maker at almost 7 billion Swiss francs ($7.1 billion).

Darrell said Logitech continues to seek takeover targets of all sizes, including those that could be worth several billion dollars. "We use mergers and acquisitions to accelerate or differentiate things we're already doing," he said.

Logitech also named Nate Olmstead as chief financial officer. Olmstead had been interim CFO after Vincent Pilette left for security software firm Symantec Corp.