Premier Farnell gets back into growth

Electronics components distributor Premier Farnell today said sales and operating profit returned to growth in the fourth quarter of a year as its underlying pre-tax profit fell 24%.

The company, which distributes batteries and microchips to companies such as Philips, Microsoft and Nokia, said sales and underlying operating profit grew by 6% and 3.3% year-on-year in the fourth quarter.

"As we moved into the first quarter, which is seasonally our strongest, this performance accelerated, with group sales growing over 15% in February on the prior year," said chief executive Harriet Green.

Pre-tax profit in the year to 31 January fell to £54.8 million from £72.5 million. Market expectations for full-year pre-tax profit had ranged between £50.1 million and £56.9 million. Revenue dropped by 10% to £795.3 million.

The company is paying an unchanged final dividend of 5.2p a share, making a total dividend of 9.4p.

Last month, Premier Farnell's rival Electrocomponents said it had seen a sharp improvement in trading that would push its year profit to the upper end of expectations.