Electrocomponents plc (LON:ECM) today issued a trading update for its first quarter ended 30 June 2019.
| Like-for-like revenue growth(1) | ||
| Region | Q4 to March 2019 | Q1 to June 2019 |
| Northern Europe | 10% | 7% |
| Southern Europe | 7% | 5% |
| Central Europe | 13% | 3% |
| Emerging markets | 9% | 9% |
| Total EMEA | 10% | 5% |
| Americas | 6% | 0% |
| Asia Pacific | 3% | 1% |
| Group | 8% | 4% |
- Q1 Group like-for-like revenue growth was 4% as continued strong growth in Industrial revenue more than offset an expected slowdown in Electronics revenue.
– RS PRO and Digital continued to outperform Group growth with like-for-like revenue growth of 9% and 5% respectively.
– An expected reduction in Raspberry Pi sales ahead of the widely anticipated launch of Pi 4, had a c. 1% negative impact on Group like-for-like revenue growth.
- We remain focused on driving market share gains across all regions of the world.
– EMEA (64% of Group revenue) saw like-for-like revenue growth of 5% in Q1, predominantly driven by market share gains. We are seeing the strongest share gains in Northern Europe where our initiatives to improve the offer and drive value-added solutions are most advanced. We continue to focus on extending these initiatives across the broader region.
– The Americas (26% of Group revenue) saw flat revenue trends reflecting a softer market for industrial production.
– In Asia Pacific (10% of Group revenue) we continue to see strong growth in revenues in Australia and New Zealand and South East Asia, which more than offset declines in Greater China and Japan.
- As reported at our preliminary results, during H2 2019 we initiated a programme to broaden our electronics inventory as we seek to exploit market opportunities to strengthen our electronics offering. This will negatively impact gross margin in H1 2020. Overall, we expect a broadly stable gross margin for the full year.
- We will continue to focus on tightly managing our operating costs, while investing behind our strategy to drive longer-term sustainable growth.
- While the external environment has become more uncertain, we remain well positioned to deliver good progress in the year.
