Electrocomponents growing, but not so fast

Electronics and maintenance products Electrocomponents is still seeing year-on-year growth in revenue, though the rate at which sales are growing is slowing rapidly.In the six months to the end of September group revenue grew by 11% from a year earlier, with second quarter growth of 8%. In September, group revenue grew by 5%, with UK revenue actually down 1% from a year earlier.The international division outstripped its UK counterpart in terms of growth throughout the half-year period, growing by 14%, as against the UK's growth rate of 5%. Within the International business Continental Europe grew by 15%, North America by 14% and Asia Pacific by 12%. In the second quarter, while the UK division grew sales by 2%, the international business grew 11%, with Continent Europe up 12%, North America up by 11% and Asia Pacific 8% ahead.The group has seen an increasing number of customers ordering online, with eCommerce revenue growing by around 27% over the half-year. By the end of September, around 54% of the group's orders were received During the half year the growth rates of its electronics and maintenance offers converged, the group said. In the first quarter, the electronics side of the business had seen revenue growth of 16%, while the maintenance unit grew 13%.The group has completed a bank refinancing with a £210m multi-currency committed bank facility which will replace the existing main facility. The new financing has a maturity of 30 November 2015 with comparable covenants to the former facility. "We have a strong balance sheet and are continuing to invest in the business with further electronics product introductions, improving our maintenance offer across Continental Europe and the UK and significant enhancements to our websites," said group chief executive, Ian Mason."While we are mindful of economic conditions and have previously demonstrated our ability to react swiftly to changes in demand, the business is continuing to deliver year on year sales growth," Mason added. --jh