Electrocomponents plc (LON:ECM) today issued a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2019, ahead of publishing full-year results on 21 May 2019.
|
Like-for-like revenue growth(1) |
||
|
Region |
Q4 to Mar 2019 |
Year to Mar 2019 |
|
Northern Europe |
10% |
10% |
|
Southern Europe |
7% |
6% |
|
Central Europe |
13% |
10% |
|
Emerging markets |
9% |
5% |
|
Total EMEA |
10% |
9% |
|
Americas |
6% |
9% |
|
Asia Pacific |
3% |
6% |
|
Group |
8% |
8% |
We have made good progress in Q4 and remain on track to deliver strong growth in adjusted(2) profit before tax for the year in line with expectations.
· We have continued the strong execution of our strategy with Q4 revenue growth of 8%. This has resulted in revenue growth of 8% for the full year.
o The Group continues to outperform underlying market growth.
o All regions delivered like-for-like revenue growth in Q4.
o EMEA significantly outperformed delivering 10% like-for-like growth, while Americas grew closer in line with the market.
o Digital like-for-like revenue growth was 9% in Q4 and 9% for the full year.
o RS Pro grew like-for-like revenue at 12% in Q4 and 12% for the full year.
· We continue to expect stable gross margin in our base business(3) in the year.
· We have delivered £4 million of savings from the second phase of the Performance Improvement Plan in 2019 and remain on track to deliver cumulative annualised savings of £12 million by March 2021.
· We continue to take opportunities to invest to differentiate customer experience and to build a lean and more scalable business capable of generating sustainable growth and superior returns.
· As announced with our interim results, we have acted to protect our service levels around the UK’s exit from the European Union, including investing an additional £26 million in inventory in faster moving product lines. This will be a short-term investment, over time we expect inventory levels to return to a normalised level.
