Premier Farnell report FY first half results

PUBLISHED: 21 Sep 2013 @ 05:45 | Comments (0) |

Premier Farnell (LSE:PFL), a distributor of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, maintenance and repair in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific, have announced results for the first half of the financial year ending 2 February 2014.

Operating margin improved through the period to 9.5% from adjusted Q4 levels of 9.2% whilst the gross margin of 37.7% was down 0.3 percentage points from the fourth quarter but was seen to stabilise through the period.

Group sales per day grew by 0.9% year on year in the first half of 2013/14 with sales growth in the main MDD business (excluding Raspberry Pi) stable across the period.

Excluding Raspberry Pi and associated products, sales per day declined 1.4% year on year. Announcing the data the company said “Activity levels through the first half were in line with normal seasonality which typically decline sequentially by 1% to 3%, on average, from the first to second quarter”.

Whilst recent PMI Manufacturing surveys and market data reported by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) have been encouraging the company said that “our markets remain variable and customers continue to act cautiously, especially in certain segments of developed economies”.

“Our core business has delivered a stable performance overall despite the mixed conditions that have impacted some developed markets such as North America and the UK” argued Chief Exectutive Laurence Bain. “Focus on optimising performance saw the Group’s industry leading operating margin improve from the levels experienced at the end of the prior year, making progress towards our targeted range”.

“Looking ahead to the second half, we continue to have limited forward order visibility and current market conditions remain variable. However, with our proposition benefitting from the first half inventory investments and initiatives taken to optimise business performance, we expect to continue to grow our active customer base, gain market share and drive financial performance” said Mr Bain.

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