Confidence is picking up in the UK components market after a “wobble” in mid-March, says Adam Fletcher, chairman of the distribution industry association Afdec.
“This “confidence wobble” has not been reflected in other European electronic component markets and its cause in the UK is not easily identifiable,” said Fletcher.
“Distributors appear to be managing their inventory carefully with few reported supply side issues but that said, the overall Book-to-Bill ratio now needs to show a significant improvement if we’re to see any significant growth in the second half of 2007,” added Fletcher.
Total average daily bookings in April increased by 2% when compared to March ’07 but declined by 13.4% when compared to the same period last year.
Sector specific bookings changes compared to March ’07 were semiconductor declined by 0.8%, passives increased by 0.4%, electro-mechanicals increased by 5.8%, and component assemblies increased by 16.7%.
The overall book-to-bill ratio in April improved marginally to 1.02:1 however the overall stock turn declined slightly to 2.2 times, whilst the total inventory declined by almost 1%.