Electrocomponents PLC (LON:ECM) said the impact of its performance improvement plan had helped it deliver a strong first half with strong like-for-like revenue growth, market share gains and improved profitability.
The distribution group on Tuesday posted a 22.9% rise in pretax profit to £93.0mln in the six months to the end of September on revenues 10.7% higher at £911.8mln.
READ: Electrocomponents on target to post £100mln first-half profit
The company said like-for-like revenues rose 9.8%, with market share gains in all three of its regions. It added that digital like-for-like revenue growth came in at 9.7% and nudged the interim divided up to 5.3p a share from 5.25p last year.
Electrocomponents said the second phase of its performance improvement plan was on track and that it had introduced a new simpler regional structure to create a more agile, scalable and customer-centric organisation. It said it was making good progress on its global shared services and automation strategy and that its regional centre of excellence had opened in China.
The group expects the plan to deliver total annualised savings of £12mln by 31 March 2021, and £4mln by 31 March 2019.
"We are making progress on our journey to become the first choice for customers, suppliers and employees and have delivered a good performance in the first half with strong like-for-like revenue growth, market share gains and improved profitability,” Halma CEO Lindsley Ruth said in a statement.
“We have seen a good start to the second half of the year with around 7% like-for-like revenue growth in the first seven weeks of H2. While the external environment in some of our key markets is uncertain, we remain focused on driving organic performance, growing our market share in all three regions and managing our cost base.”
Ruth added that Halma would continue to pursue “opportunistic value-accretive acquisitions” as it looks to drive continued consolidation in its large and fragmented industry.