ECM.L Regulatory News (ECM)

14 Feb 2008 07:01

Electrocomponents PLC14 February 2008 Electrocomponents plc, the leading international high service distributor, hastoday issued its second half interim management statement for the year ending 31March 2008. For the four months up to 31 January 2008, Group sales, adjusted for tradingdays and foreign exchange movements, have grown at around 4.5% with theInternational business growing at around 7% and the UK business at approximately0.5%. Within the International business, which represents around 60% of Grouprevenue, Europe sales growth has been around 4%, North America around 11% andAsia Pacific approximately 14%. Compared with the first half of the financial year, sales growth in NorthAmerica and Asia Pacific has remained at similar double digit rates. WithinAsia Pacific we have seen accelerating sales growth in China as our improvedcustomer offer takes effect. In both the UK and Europe we have seen weakermonths in November and December followed by a stronger January. e-Commerce isgrowing strongly and now accounts for around 32% of Group sales, up from 28% in2007. Overall year to date, Group sales growth has been around 6% with Internationalsales growing at around 9.5% and UK sales by around 1%. Within theInternational business Europe has grown at around 7%, North America at around11.5% and Asia Pacific by around 15%. The Group gross margin in the four months ended 31 January 2008 has improvedslightly over the first half of the financial year. This was driven by theongoing activities to reduce product costs, rationalisation of the product rangeand targeted price increases. Good progress continues to be made improving our offers to our Electronic andElectromechanical (EEM) and our Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO)customers. In January we launched a completely redesigned RS website whichincludes new world class search functionality that makes it easier for customersto find and buy the products that they need. Early customer reaction has beenpositive. New technology introductions, joint supplier promotions and greater order andpricing flexibility continue to drive growth across the markets. We have alsoachieved a number of large account wins. The process control and automation(PCA) technology is performing particularly well. With the continued growth of our International business, stable gross margins,and targeted cost actions, we anticipate that we will deliver headline profitbefore tax for the year ending 31 March 2008 in line with our expectations. Inaddition, we expect strong cash generation. There have been no significant changes in the financial position of the Groupsince the publication of the Group's half-yearly financial report for the sixmonths ended 30 September 2007. Enquiries: Ian Mason Group Chief Executive 01865 204000Simon Boddie Group Finance Director 01865 204000John Sunnucks and David Allchurch Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200 There will be a telephone conference call today at 09.00am for analysts andinvestors with replay access for 7 days. Dial in instructions are set outbelow. Electrocomponents plc - Conference Call Dial in Instructions Date: 14 February 2008UK Time: 08:50h for 09:00h Quote Reference Number: 34059291Chairman: Ian Mason UK Local Call Dial in: 0845 245 0248UK Free Phone Dial in: 0800 953 0810Europe & International Dial in: +44 (0) 1452 565 124Canada Toll Free Dial in: 1866 754 7526USA Toll Free Dial in: 1866 789 2220 Electrocomponents plc - Replay Dial in Instructions (available until 21 February 2008) Replay Access Number: 34059291# UK Free Phone Dial in: 0800 953 1533International Dial in: +44 (0) 1452 55 00 00Canada Toll Free Dial in: 1866 878 9237USA Toll Free Dial in: 1866 247 4222 Safe Harbour Statement: This announcement contains certain statements, statistics and projections thatare or may be forward-looking. The accuracy and completeness of all suchstatements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the futurefinancial position, strategy, projected costs, plans and objectives for themanagement of future operations of Electrocomponents plc and its subsidiaries isnot warranted or guaranteed. These statements typically contain words such as "intends", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates" and words of similar import. Bytheir nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty becausethey relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future.Although Electrocomponents plc believes that the expectations reflected in suchstatements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations willprove to be correct. There are a number of factors, many of which are beyond thecontrol of Electrocomponents plc, which could cause actual results anddevelopments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by suchforward-looking statements. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange