Premier Farnell “refocusing” efforts after fall from FTSE 250
PREMIER FARNELL the Leeds-based technology distributor, has seen a below-par performance and a demotion from the FTSE 250 which saw their chief executive ousted last month.
Interim chief Mark Whiteling, who replaced former chief executive Laurence Bain after the firm lost £100m in value in one day, has said that to combat poorer performance, the firm “must refocus on our core distribution business.”
The firm has said it will sell US firm Akron Brass, a manufacturer of emergency response equipment headquartered in Ohio as part of this “refocusing.”
For the first half of the year, to the end of July 2015, the firm reported revenues of £498m, up from £479m in the same period last year.
They did however say that total pretax profit dipped to £30.6m, a decrease of 16% on the same period last year, after being hit by core market slowdown.
Closure costs in Brazil amounted to £1.0m, and restructuring costs came to £3.8m, but the firm was redeemed by the increase in sales of the Raspberry Pi board, which grew 67% in the first half following the launch of the Raspberry Pi 2.
Mark Whiteling, interim chief executive officer, commented: “The group was affected by a slowdown and more difficult trading conditions in the second quarter of the year, particularly in the core markets of North America and the UK.
“As anticipated at that time these conditions, combined with the impact of exchange rates, have resulted in adjusted operating profit for the first half of the year that is approximately 10% lower than the first half of last year.
“The slowing momentum seen in the second quarter has continued in the start of the seasonally weaker second half. Accordingly, we now anticipate second half operating profit performance to be lower than previous expectations, with full year adjusted operating profit now expected to be in the range of £73m to £77m.”
