ECM.L Share News (ECM)

(Alliance News) - Industrial and electronics products distributor Electrocomponents PLC on Tuesday said it has decided to defer final dividend dividend until it has greater visibility over the Covid-19 outbreak situation, despite a rise in annual revenue from all regions.

For the financial year to the end of March, the company's pretax profit rose 2.3% to GBP199.6 million from GBP195.2 million the year before, on revenue that grew by 3.7% to GBP1.95 billion from GBP1.88 billion.

On a like-for-like basis, revenue increased 2.2%, driven by continued share gains in industrial revenue, more than offsetting a slowdown in electronics.

Electrocomponents said revenue was heavily weighted towards the first half, where it grew by 4.5%, as opposed to the second half where it rose by 0.1%, which was affected by weaker underlying markets and a sharp contraction in volumes at the end of the year.

Regionally, EMEA remained the largest contributor to revenue, rising 2.5% to GBP1.24 billion. The Americas had the highest rate of growth, increasing 6.6% to GBP515.7 million and Asia Pacific grew by 3.9% to GBP198.3 million.

Post-period, the group said the supply side of its business has remained robust with all distribution centres remaining open. However, Covid-19 lockdown measures had negatively affected demand levels.

In the first eight weeks of financial 2021, the company's like-for-like revenue dropped by 14% , but the rate of decline moderated slightly during May as lockdown restrictions started to ease in some of key markets.

Although Electrocomponents has deferred the decision to pay a final dividend, it will consider making an additional interim payout for the first half of its financial 2021.

"Electrocomponents delivered a strong performance in the year ended 31 March 2020 against an uncertain market backdrop and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic which started to impact trading volumes towards the end of the year. During the current crisis our focus has been to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our employees, support our communities and continue to provide a reliable service to customers and suppliers, including many operating in critical industries," said Chief Executive Officer Lindsley Ruth.

Shares in Electrocomponents were up 5.1% at 667.50 pence on Tuesday in London.

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

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