Web sales boost for Premier Farnell
PREMIER Farnell, the Leeds-based electronics component firm, has slowed its profits slide and taken market share in Europe, UK and Asia Pacific (APAC) despite the global slow-down.
The firm reported today that underlying pre-tax profit for the third quarter was £13.9m compared to £17.6m for the same period 2008 – a 21% decrease compared with the decline seen in the second quarter of 40%.
Total profit before tax for the first nine months was £36.3m down from £59.8m.
It said that as a result of continuing to invest in its strategic direction it had increased electronic design engineering (EDE) sales and was growing overseas markets mainly through the web, which saw marketing and distribution division (MDD) sales grow 11%.
Sales via eCommerce channels in Europe and APAC now account for
57.1% and 44.4% of total sales respectively.
In North America web sales grew 20.1% on the second quarter and eCommerce sales now represent 25.4% of total sales.
Year-on-year sales in India grew 94.6% and in Eastern Europe 49.8%. In Greater China sales grew 22.4% year on year as Premier received recognition from the electronics industry as the engineer’s high service distributor of choice in China.
Commenting on the results Harriet Green, group chief executive, said: “We have continued to invest throughout the global economic downturn, as we develop and leverage new services that build on the strong foundations of our proven global strategy.
“These investments ensure we remain aligned to our customers’ needs, which they continue to recognise, as we delivered our sixteenth consecutive quarter of gross margin stability, a clear differentiator in our industry.”
Group sales saw the momentum in August continue through the third quarter with revenue growing 5% sequentially on the second quarter.
The company is also continuing to invest in new technologies and recently saw an iPhone application to provide EDEs with immediate and remote access to element14 approved by Apple.
In September, it acquired German firm CadSoft Computer for €7m (£6.4m) best known for its EAGLE product.
