(Alliance News) - Electrocomponents PLC on Wednesday said it will deliver "good progress" in its current financial year after reporting mid-single-digit revenue growth in the first quarter.
The FTSE 250-listed company said like-for-like revenue growth in the three months to the end of June was 4% as continued strong growth in Industrial segment revenue more than offset an expected slowdown in Electronics revenue.
Electrocomponents highlighted that an expected reduction in Raspberry Pi computer board sales ahead of the "widely anticipated" launch of Pi 4, had a 1% negative impact on its like-for-like revenue growth.
Geographically, like-for-like revenue rose by 9% in Emerging markets and by 7% in Northern Europe, while Southern Europe and the Middle East & Africa, both grew by 5%.
"We are seeing the strongest share gains in Northern Europe where our initiatives to improve the offer and drive value-added solutions are most advanced. We continue to focus on extending these initiatives across the broader region," Electrocomponents said in its statement Wednesday.
Central Europe saw like-for-like revenue growth of 3% and the same for Asia Pacific was 1%. The Americas, meanwhile, saw flat like-for-like revenue growth in the first quarter, reflecting a softer market for industrial production.
Looking ahead, the distributor of industrial and electronic products said it will continue to focus on tightly managing operating costs, while investing behind its strategy to drive longer-term sustainable growth.
During the second half, Electrocomponents plans to initiate a programme to broaden its electronics offering as it seeks to exploit market opportunities. This will negatively impact gross margin in the first half of its financial year 2020, it said. Overall, it expects a broadly stable gross margin for the full year.
"While the external environment has become more uncertain, we remain well positioned to deliver good progress in the year," the company said.
Electrocomponents shares were trading 2.8% lower in London on Wednesday at 617.80 pence each.
