Premier Farnell finds it tough to match last year

First quarter revenues and profits were down at electronics components supplier Premier Farnell, but the group said sales are stabilising.

Total revenue in the February to April quarter was down 5.0% at £241.0m from £252.5m the year before. Both Europe and Asia Pacific showed strong sequential growth of 2.1% and 8.5%, respectively with Asia Pacific returning to year-on-year

growth. North America was 2.7% lower, sequentially, as Premier Farnell continued strategic shift away from commodity maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) markets.

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Adjusted operating profit was down 8.6% to £26.0m from £28.5m the year before, while adjusted profit before tax was down 13.3% at £20.9m from £24.1m. Reported profit before tax slumped 68.0% to £13.4m from £41.9m.

"Global quarterly sales per day have been maintained at a stable level since the decline in the global electronics and technology markets that impacted us in June last year," revealed Laurence Bain, Group Chief Executive.

"Although at this stage of the cycle EDE [electronic design engineer] markets remain challenging, MRO sales per day continued to progress on a year on year basis," Bain added.

JH