EMEA sales grew 7% year on year in an upbeat trading update from Electrocomponents. In the four months to the end of January, northern Europe sales grew 8%, southern Europe sales rose 5% and central Europe revenues were up 9%. Only the emerging markets were flat, a performance blamed on lower than anticipated Raspberry Pi sales.
The Americas peformed well posting a 7% sales increase, Asia-Pacific reported modest 2% revenue growth.
The company says it has continued to outperform the market by delivering 6% like-for-like revenue growth over the period.
2019 has started well with January like-for-like revenue growth above the average for the four-month period, after December was impacted by the timing of holidays.
RS Pro, the distributor’s own-brand range, continued to outperform the Group growth rate with 10% like-for-like growth. Digital revenue saw 8% like-for-like revenue growth.
There is a continued on initiatives to simplify and scale the business and to generate further efficiency. The company is on track to deliver £4 million of savings this financial year from the second phase of the Performance Improvement Plan, with cumulative annualised savings of £12 million by March 2021.
Lindsley Ruth (pictured), Chief Executive Officer commented: “Despite ongoing macro-economic uncertainty, we have seen a good first four months of the second half of the year with 6% like-for-like revenue growth. We continue to have a significant market opportunity and are confident in our ability to drive share gains irrespective of the market backdrop. Good progress is being made at building a leaner and more scalable model capable of driving higher operating profit margin. We remain well positioned to make strong progress in the current financial year.”
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