Farnell's sales growing in Eastern Europe

Companies decision to expand into the developing international markets of Greater China, India and Eastern Europe continues to be validated as fourth quarter year on year sales grew by 76.4%, 70.3% and 74.6%, respectively in these regions. Both fourth quarter Group sales and underlying operating profit returned to year on year growth of 6.0% and 3.3%, respectively. Sales per day gained momentum throughout the quarter, with overall revenue in January up 9.5%. This sales performance accelerated in February where revenue grew over 15% year on year. MDD Americas sales per day have now improved for eight consecutive months, with fourth quarter sales flat year on year and sales in February growing 12.0% on the prior year. Farnell Europe returned to year on year sales growth, up 11.4% in the quarter. APAC saw strong fourth quarter sales growth of 37.4%. Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 40.3%, up one percentage point on the prior year and representing 17 quarters of gross margin stability. Fourth quarter underlying return on sales improved to 10.5%, a 1.3 percentage point improvement over the third quarter, and 2.3 percentage points up on the second quarter, reflecting the improving sales, gross margin stability and the benefit of our cost actions. Fourth quarter MDD web sales grew 28.9% on the prior year, with eCommerce accounting for 41.5% of total MDD sales. eCommerce in Europe now accounts for 58.8% of sales. In APAC eCommerce accounts for 50.9% of sales and in Newark eCommerce accounts for 25.8% of sales.