ECM.L Regulatory News (ECM)

ELECTROCOMPONENTS PLC

Trading update

Electrocomponents plc, the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, has today issued a trading update for the six months ended 30 September 2011, ahead of the announcement of half year results on 14 November 2011.

The business has had a strong first half of the financial year.

In the first half Group revenue grew by 11% year on year, the International business grew by 14% and the UK by 5%. Within the International business Continental Europe grew by 15%, North America by 14% and Asia Pacific by 12%.

In the second quarter Group revenue grew by 8% year on year, the International business grew by 11% and the UK by 2%. Within the International business Continental Europe grew by 12%, North America by 11% and Asia Pacific by 8%.

In September Group revenue grew by around 5%, the International business, which represents 70% of Group sales, grew by around 7% and the UK declined by around 1%.

We have continued to benefit from the implementation of our strategic initiatives. We have launched a further 20,000 new market leading electronics products and are building a larger and common maintenance offer across Continental Europe and the UK. During the half year the growth rates of our electronics and maintenance offers have converged.

eCommerce revenue grew by around 27% and represents around 54% of Group sales at the exit of the half year. We recently completed a number of significant enhancements to our websites making the process of finding products clearer, faster and easier. Customer feedback has been encouraging.

The Group's gross margin is at a similar level to the first half last year.

The Group has completed a bank refinancing with a £210m multicurrency committed bank facility obtained from a group of seven banks replacing the existing main facility. The new financing has a maturity of 30 November 2015 with comparable covenants to the former facility. 

Ian Mason, Group Chief Executive, commented:

"The business has had a strong first half of the financial year with 11% Group revenue growth and 27% eCommerce growth.

Electrocomponents is the leading high service distributor globally in a large, growing and highly fragmented marketplace. We have continued to gain market share particularly from smaller distributors who cannot match our offer and service.

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.

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."

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Notes:

All revenue growth rates are adjusted for trading days and foreign exchange rate movements.

There will be a telephone conference call today at 08.00h for analysts and investors with replay access to 14 October 2011. Dial in instructions are set out below.