Premier Farnell has reported sales growth in the first three months of the year up on both the last quarter as well as the first quarter of 2010.
The online and catalogue distributor saw quarter revenues ahead by 8.3% year-on-year and 3% sequentially compared to the last quarter.
“The Group’s sales momentum strengthened in the first quarter, with sales up 3.0% quarter on quarter and 8.3% year on year, which is above our targeted 6%-8% range,” said Harriet Green, group chief executive.
Looking ahead, Green said “we recognise that our business model inherently provides us with limited visibility, but we expect second quarter sales growth to be in-line with our target range.”
A strong rebound in North America in particular saw operating profit up 13.3% year on year.
During the quarter Farnell added £6m to inventory levels following the Japanese disaster, of which £2.2 million had been received by the quarter end.
Online business grew by 30.2% year on year which means that e-commerce now accounts for 53.7% of sales
In Europe the online business accounts for 70.7% of sales.
The distributor’s element14 online design community received 645,000 visits from customers during the quarter.
It has recently launched a new design services website called element14 knode.
During the quarter Valerie Gooding succeeded Sir Peter Gershon as chairman of Premier Farnell.