Electrocomponents boosted by strong fourth quarter

- FY sales up two per cent thanks to strong Q4, profits in line- Gross margin stable- Sales up four per cent in Q4- North America powers ahead despiteTrading improved in the fourth quarter for Electrocomponents, the electronics and maintenance products maker, as accelerating overseas sales counterbalanced flat UK figures.Overall, group sales for the period stood at 4%, meaning for the full year the company will post growth of 2%. With gross margins having remained stable, headline pre-tax profits will be in line with market expectations.Chief Executive Ian Mason: "Sales trends across our International business, which has grown to comprise over 70% of group sales, have gradually improved as the year has progressed. This partly reflects the improvement in manufacturing Purchasing Managers Indices during the year, but we also believe that our International sales growth reflects share gains from our numerous smaller competitors."Within International, Continental Europe grew by 5%, speeding up from the 3% growth in the first half of the year and 5% in the third quarter.After significant impact of adverse weather conditions had held back sales in the previous two months, North American sales shot up 8% in the final months of the year, well up from the 3% growth in the previous nine months. Asia Pacific grew by 7%, having been up 2% in the four previous months and flat in the first half. During the fourth quarter, the FTSE 250 group said eCommerce sales continued to grow faster than the group as a whole, benefiting from improvements made to online functionality. Group eCommerce sales growth was around 7%, resulting in eCommerce comprising around 59% of group sales in the quarter, up from 57% in the comparative period.ECM shares were down 0.1% to 283.55p at 08:24 on Thursday.OH