Trading Statement

Electrocomponents plc today issues a trading update for the four-month period to 31 January 2020

·      Overall trading remains consistent with the first six weeks of H2. We continue to see modest growth and continued market share gains despite ongoing uncertainty in some of our key underlying markets.

o  Industrial market share gains continued to offset ongoing softness in the Electronics market.

o  All three regions remain in modest growth. Within EMEA, Central Europe was impacted by a continued slow performance in Germany.

o  Trading continued to show some volatility from week to week especially around the calendar year end, however January was above the average for the period.

o  RS PRO outperformed the Group with 10% like-for-like growth.

o  Digital like-for-like revenue grew broadly in line with Group.

·      We continue to take actions to maintain, and where possible improve, gross margin. Given the impact of product mix and OKdo, we continue to expect a decline in gross margin for the full year.

DAVID EGAN, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, COMMENTED:

"During the first four months of H2 we have executed well, driving market share gains against an uncertain market backdrop. We continue to actively manage our operating costs, while increasing investment in strategic initiatives to position the business for the significant longer-term market opportunity. Whilst our markets are challenging, we remain well positioned to deliver good progress."

Enquiries:

Notes:

1.        Like-for-like revenue growth is growth in revenue adjusted to eliminate the impact of acquisitions, changes in exchange rates and trading days year on year. Acquisitions are only included once they have been owned for a year, at which point they start to be included in both the current and comparative periods for the same number of months. 2019 is converted at 2020 average exchange rates for the period.

2.        Our profit remains sensitive to movements in exchange rates on translation of overseas profits. Average exchange rates for the year ended 31 March 2019 for euro and US$ respectively were €1.13 and $1.31 respectively. Every 1 cent movement in the euro has a circa £1.4 million impact on annual profit. Every 1 cent movement in the US $ has a circa £0.5 million impact on annual profit.

3.        In the year ending 31 March 2020 we expect to see a positive impact of around £9 million on revenue from additional trading days compared with the year ended 31 March 2019.