Momentum building at Premier Farnell

Electronic components distributor Premier Farnell reported full year sales and underlying profits for fiscal 2009 that were slightly ahead of expectations after a return to year on year growth in the fourth quarter.

Revenue for the year to end-January fell 10% to £795.3m from £804.4m in 2008 but was ahead of market consensus of £784.6m. Revenue improved 6% year on year in the fourth quarter to £207.5m from £200.2m the year before.

Sales per day improved throughout the final quarter with overall revenue in January up 9.5% on a year earlier, while February's sales showed a 15% year on year improvement.

Underlying profit before tax fell by around a quarter to £54.8m from £72.5m in 2008, but beat market expectations of £52.4m.

Fourth quarter underlying profit before tax rose 5% from £16.4m a year earlier to £17.2m.

Underlying profit before taxation excludes restructuring costs of £7.6m incurred in the year (2008/9:£3.4 million), the one-off non-cash gain of £6.3m from the reorganisation of the group's North American pension plans (2008/9: £nil), and excludes gains of £3.7m made in 2008 on the purchase and cancellation of preference shares.

Full year underlying cash flow conversion was 145%, while net financial liabilities over the year declined by £31.7m, helped by a £14.7m boost from exchange rate gains.

The final dividend has been left unchanged at 5.2p, making the total dividend for the year the same as the year before at 9.4p.

'We will continue to focus on execution and driving our performance towards reaching the level of sales we saw before entering the downturn, while recognising the limited visibility inherent in our business,' said chief executive officer Harriet Green.

'With the resilience of our business and the strength of our strategy, the board remains confident in investing for our future as we capitalise on the opportunities within our markets and grow our business profitably,' Green added.