Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins says he's seeing customers 'pause' because of Brexit
During the earnings call Wednesday, Robbins said:
"What we saw from a Brexit perspective is exactly what you would expect. In the U.K. proper, we saw customers pause. We saw them just kind of slow a bit because they're uncertain."
Cisco's one of the first major tech companies to report earnings after a full month of the Brexit referendum, which voted in favor of the UK leaving the European Union. In the fourth quarter, Cisco saw its product orders in the EMEA market drop 3%, although its revenue increased 3%.
But Robbins stressed that the order decrease was not solely a result of Brexit. Instead, he pointed to a broader slump among service providers, like large telecoms.
"We would not suggest that the broad-based shift in the EMEA results was solely dependent upon Brexit," Robbins said.
Robbins has been one of the more vocal critics of Brexit, once telling tech news site CRN that it would be a "big mistake" for the British IT industry. Cisco has also been actively investing in the UK market, making a $1 billion investment in the UK economy last year.
"We remain very committed there. We think we'll work through this. But those are the real impacts," Robbins said during Wednesday's call.