Friday preview: Premier Farnell reports on first quarter

16th May 2013 15:21

Premier Farnell, the British distributor of electronic components to engineers, will release a first-quarter trading update on Friday, updating shareholders on its performance since the financial year-end of February 3rd.The company reported a 3.4% fall in adjusted operating profit to £23.9m in the quarter to February 3rd (the fourth quarter), as total revenue dropped following weak performance from the MDD Americas division.Adjusted pre-tax profit fell 7.9% to £18.7m while adjusted earnings per share declined 10% to 3.6p.At the time Chief Executive Laurence Bain blamed challenging market conditions for the lower results. "Whilst we have limited visibility and current market conditions continue to be uncertain, the new financial year has started positively and we remain confident in our ability to implement our strategic vision and optimise the business' performance to grow our active customer base, gain market share and drive financial performance," he said. The firm unveiled an annual revenue of £952m and pre-tax profits of £70.60m, compared to the previous year's revenue of £973.10m and pre-tax profit of £104.60m.Friday May 17thINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Carr's Milling Industries, GETECH Group, Kier Group INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Leading Indicators (US) (15:00) New Car Registrations (EU) (10:00) U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00) Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00) IMSS IFG GroupPremier Farnell EGMS ZCCM Investments Holdings 'B' Shares AGMS Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon, Brammer, Computacenter, Highcroft Investment, Intertek Group, Kazakhmys, Kentz Corporation Ltd., Menzies(John), Petrofac Ltd., Symphony Environmental Technologies, Total SA, Tribal Group, Vmoto Ltd FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Arbuthnot Banking Group, ARM Holdings, Aviva, Clarke (T.), Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (General Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (Low Carbon Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (Structured Shares), Drax Group, Goals Soccer Centres, Johnson Service Group, Man Group, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, National Express Group, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Vitec GroupRD