ECM.L Regulatory News (ECM)

Electrocomponents plc, the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, has today issued its interim management statement for the period from 1 October 2012 to 31 January 2013.

Sales performance

For the four months to 31 January 2013 Group underlying sales growth(1) was around 1%, with maintenance sales growth of around 2% and electronics sales decline of around 1%. Sales trends improved during the period in International, with Group sales growing in both December and January.

Increased spend on search engine marketing and our recently-enhanced web checkout contributed to Group eCommerce sales growth improving to around 5%, giving Group eCommerce sales share in the period of around 57%.

Financial performance

Group gross margin is responding positively to our actions to improve discount effectiveness and implement a targeted price differentiation strategy. These actions are offsetting the impact of a stronger performance from lower-margin technologies, including Raspberry Pi(2), and adverse currency movements. We expect that the second-half gross margin will be higher than the first half, albeit below the corresponding prior-year level.

The implementation of our new global organisation structure is now complete and the associated efficiencies are expected to deliver cost savings of more than £3 million in the second half. Combined with other cost actions, we continue to expect that second-half headline operating costs(3) as a percentage of sales will be lower than the first-half level.

The second-half reorganisation costs relating to the implementation of the global organisation structure are expected to be towards the lower end of the range of £4 million to £6 million given in the half-yearly financial report (H1 FY13 reorganisation costs: £2.5 million).

The Group has a strong balance sheet with a well-invested global footprint, and there have been no significant changes to the Group's financial position during the period.

Ian Mason, Group Chief Executive, commented:

"Group sales growth during the four-month period has improved slightly, to around 1%. Whilst the macroeconomic environment is likely to remain difficult throughout the remainder of the second half, we continue to expect that our initiatives to drive sales growth and actions to improve operating margins will result in a stronger second half of the year."

Enquiries:

Ian Mason Group Chief Executive 01865 204000

Simon Boddie Group Finance Director 01865 204000

Matt Jones Head of Investor Relations 01865 207427

John Sunnucks/David Allchurch/ Tulchan Communications 020 73534200

Martin Robinson

Notes:

(1) Sales growth rates, unless otherwise stated, are adjusted for trading days and currency movements ("underlying sales growth/decline").

(2) Sales of Raspberry Pi globally are principally recorded in the UK. The Raspberry Pi is a low-cost, credit card sized single-board computer designed and developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charity established to promote the development of computer development skills in education across the world.

(3) Headline operating costs are reported operating costs before reorganisation costs.