Electrical parts supplier, Electrocomponents, has posted 5% fall in its annual sales and scrapped special dividend apprehending profits to touch lower end of expectations.

The oxford-based company which supplies electrical items including semiconductors, cables and tools to businesses, is fighting the global slowdown and proposes to axe 470 jobs as one of the measures to cut costs.

Electrocomponents is expecting to save £18 million in 2009-2010, through job redundancies and other initiatives.

For the year ending March 31, the company is expecting pre-tax profit of £85 to £88 million, which is far below profits of £96.4 million made last year. Group sales were down by 5%, with decline of 7% in the UK and 5% in its international business.

Last month, rival Premier Farnell suffered 36% fall in 4th quarter pre-tax profits and announced cutting of jobs and closure of sites in the UK.

Electrocomponents’ group chief executive, Ian Mason, claimed that its gross margins were stable, cash generation was robust and the group was able to reduce costs significantly.

Under the prevailing trading environment, company feels inappropriate to pay special dividend, however it remains committed to pay total dividend of 11p. Special dividend of 7.4p a share was announced in May 2008.

Things to consider:
If you need your snaps retouch come to us.