May 19 (Reuters) - Redington, a distributor

for Apple ( AAPL ) in India, reported an increase in adjusted

quarterly profit, driven by higher demand for cloud services and

automation.

The Chennai, Tamil Nadu-based company reported a profit

before exceptional items and tax of 5.22 billion rupees ($61.14

million) for the fourth-quarter ended March 31, compared to 3.81

billion rupees last year.

It recorded a one-time gain worth 6.26 billion rupees from

divestment of its Turkey-based unit Paynet.

Redington primarily generates revenue from the sale of

smartphones, computers, and other hardware products.

However, its cloud and automation businesses saw the

fastest growth on back of increased adoption of the technology.

About 50% of total IT spending globally is now

cloud-related and it is projected to increase to 58% by 2027,

according to research firm Gartner.

Redington's revenue from operations rose nearly 18% to

264.40 billion rupees, driven by deeper penetration in the South

Asian markets and expansion in African markets.

Revenue from Singapore, India and the rest of South Asia,

which account for nearly half of the company's business,

increased by 25%.

($1 = 85.3730 Indian rupees)