LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Electrocomponents plc (ECM.L) Thursday said it has continued to make strong progress in the final quarter of the year. The fourth-quarter revenue growth was 8%, and full-year revenue growth was 5%. For the full year, the company expects results to be ahead of previous expectations, with headline profit before tax ahead of the current market consensus range.
The current market consensus range for headline profit before tax for the year is 122.3 million pounds to 124.2 million pounds.
In its trading update for the year, ahead of publishing full-year results on May 23, the company said its end markets remain strong and the business is executing well. Revenues in the quarter have also benefited from a more favorable competitive environment.
The company said the revenue growth mainly reflected a strong recovery in growth in North America and Asia Pacific, and continued robust growth in Europe.
Further, the company said it expects a similar year-on-year percentage point improvement in the full-year gross margin to that seen in the first-half gross margin.
Looking ahead, for 2018, the company said it is also using the strong growth momentum as an opportunity to invest in talent and innovation to drive faster growth in the business in the medium term.
As previously guided, in FY 2018, the company expects to see an adverse impact on revenues and profits from fewer trading days compared with FY 2017.
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