LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Electrocomponents plc (ECM.L) reported Thursday that its fiscal 2018 profit before tax climbed 32.7 percent to 168.6 million pounds from 127.1 million pounds last year.
Earnings per share surged 62.2 percent to 33.9 pence from 20.9 pence a year ago.
Adjusted profit before tax was 173.1 million pounds, compared to 128.0 million pounds a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 28.4 pence, compared to 21.0 pence a year ago.
Revenue grew 12.8 percent to 1.71 billion pounds from 1.51 billion pounds a year earlier, with all five regions seeing double-digit like-for-like growth.
Digital like-for-like revenue growth was 13.4% and RS Pro like-for-like revenue growth was 11.3%
Further, the company's Board recommended full-year dividend of 13.25p, up 7.7% reflecting confidence in future prospects.
Looking ahead, the company said it has made an encouraging start to 2019, with strong revenue growth in the first seven weeks of the year despite tough trading comparatives. All regions continue to see good revenue growth and market share gains, it said.
Separately, Electrocomponents announced that it has reached agreement to acquire IESA, a provider of value-added services to industrial customers, for a cash consideration of 88 million pounds.
IESA provides value-added services in three key areas: sourcing; transaction processing; inventory and stores management.
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Electrocomponents' adjusted operating profit margin and to enhance adjusted earnings per share in the first year of ownership. The company expects the acquisition to meet cost of capital in the first year of ownership.
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