5th Feb 2016 07:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - Premier Farnell PLC on Friday said it has agreed to sell life-safety products business Akron Brass Holding Corp to IDEX Corp for USD224.2 million in cash.
The company said it decided to sell Akron Brass, which provides products to fight fire, in order to allow it to invest more in its core electronics distribution arm. The move comes after the completion of an operational review of its global electronics distribution business late last year, with the sale of Akron Brass marking an "important miletone" towards refocusing Premier Farnell and improving its financial performance.
"The sale of Akron Brass will enable us to focus on executing the initiatives identified as part of our review in order to restore growth in profitability in FY17," Mark Whiteling, interim chief executive, said.
Following the year end on January 31, full-year profit outcome is expected to be broadly in line with recent guidance, Premier Farnell said.
In July, Premier Farnell said it had suffered from slowing sales momentum, particularly in North America and the UK, prompting several initiatives to cut costs and improve margins. Weakness in certain core markets and prevailing exchange rates resulted in adjusted operating profit declining 9.9% in the first half of the company's financial year.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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