Final Results

Results for the financial year ended 2 February 2014

HIGHLIGHTS

· Full year sales per day up 2.6% versus prior year. Sales excluding Raspberry Pi grew 1.0%.

· Momentum improved in line with market conditions in the second half and sales per day growth accelerated to 4.4% with all divisions delivering year on year growth.

· Full year operating margin was 9.6% in line with our expectations, reflecting strategic focus to optimise business performance. Second half operating margin of 9.7% improved slightly compared to the first half despite two fewer trading days.

- Gross margin declined 0.4 percentage points from the first half but stabilised through the period.

- Efficiency initiatives and ongoing management of costs underpinned operating margin performance.

- Adjusted operating profit was up 1.2% and adjusted EPS grew 4.3% year on year.

· Full year cash performance reflected our planned inventory investments to further support customers' requirements.

· Strategic progress made in 2013/14 positions the Group for the future:

- Agreement to acquire AVID Technologies, Inc.(e) will enhance technology capability at the front end of design cycle as we support suppliers' new product introduction strategies and extend our business model.

- Signed significant agreements to partner more closely with major embedded suppliers, including Freescale and AMD.

- Continued to develop online user experience with upgrade to web platform successfully implemented in North America. Improved content on the element14 Community driving increased membership and participation levels.

- Enhanced our product range through completion of inventory investments.

- Continued to deliver accelerated sales growth in key emerging markets of China, India and Eastern Europe.

· Further investment in 2014/15 to accelerate our growth strategy:

- Build on the investment in our capability at the front end of design cycle through Embest and AVID.

- Development Tool Superstore to be launched, a unique online destination for customers designing new products.

- Enhancing our eCommerce customer interfaces with roll-out of upgraded web platform across Europe and Asia Pacific and further developments in mobile and personalisation.

· The Board has approved a final dividend of 6.0p per share (2012/13: 6.0p) resulting in a proposed full year dividend of 10.4p per share (2012/13: 10.4p)

Commenting on the results, Laurence Bain, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We have made important strategic progress this year as we position the business to deliver enhanced financial performance. We have made investments to develop our core customer proposition and the successful integration of Embest, acquired in 2012, has given us technological capability beyond that of any other high service distributor. Today's announcement that we have agreed to acquire AVID Technologies, Inc. will see us develop this expertise even further. By engaging more closely with suppliers and customers at the front end of the product development cycle, we are extending our model and developing competitive differentiation in high service electronics distribution as we become a destination for suppliers and customers across the entire electronics product lifecycle.

Our strategic investments, along with an improving market backdrop, have already begun to positively impact our growth rates, delivering improving Group sales per day growth through the second half of the year. Focus on optimising performance saw the Group's industry leading operating margin remain stable through the year and second half adjusted EPS increased by 4.3% compared to last year.

The new financial year has started positively despite the adverse weather conditions that affected North America's performance in February. As we consider the outlook, investments in our strategy will further increase our capability at the front end of the product development cycle and accelerate the development of our online customer experience. We anticipate this will result in the coming year's operating margin remaining at broadly similar levels to this year, reflecting the impact of our planned investments; thereafter, the Group will be better positioned to deliver financial performance in line with our key performance indicators."

For further information, contact:

Premier Farnell's announcements and presentations are published at www.premierfarnell.com together with business information and links to all other Group web sites.

An interim management statement for the 52 week financial year ending 1 February 2015 will be announced on 15 May 2014.

Notes:

(a) Throughout this statement, in order to reflect underlying business performance, sales growth is based on sales per day for continuing businesses at constant exchange rates and for like periods, and growth in operating profit is calculated at constant exchange rates, unless otherwise stated.

(b) Current year adjusted operating profit, profit before tax, and earnings per share in the table above exclude restructuring costs of £3.9m (£1.3m in the first half), a net gain on US property disposal of £1.6m (£1.5m in the first half) and a second half gain on the re-measurement of the fair value of contingent consideration of £0.8m. In the prior year, adjusted operating profit, profit before tax, and earnings per share excluded restructuring costs of £13.9m, acquisition costs of £0.4m related to the purchase of Embest and a one-off net gain of £8.5m (restated) arising from the buyout of pension rights relating to the Group's US defined benefit pension plan.

(c) Free cash flow comprises total cash generated from operations, excluding cash flows related to adjusting items, less net capital expenditure, interest, preference dividends and tax payments. Free cash flow also excludes net proceeds from the US property disposal.

(d) Throughout this statement prior year comparatives have been restated to reflect the impact of IAS19 (revised) on the Group's post-retirement expenses and liabilities. This has reduced previously reported 2012/13 adjusted operating profit by £0.9 million and total operating profit by £1.6 million, and reduced the Group's brought forward post-employment liabilities by £6.2 million.

(e) Acquisition of the business and assets of AVID Technologies Inc. is subject to certain conditions and is expected to go unconditional no later than 16 May 2014.

Premier Farnell plc

Divisional Analysis

The above current year results have been adjusted to exclude the following items:

1. First half restructuring costs of £1.3m (MDD Europe and APAC £0.5m, MDD Americas £0.2m, Head Office £0.6m).

2. A net gain on a US property disposal of £1.6m, with £1.5m recognised in the first half (MDD Americas).

3. Second half restructuring costs of £2.6m (MDD Europe and APAC £0.1m, MDD Americas £0.8m, Head Office £1.7m).

4. Second half gain of £0.8m on the re-measurement of the fair value of contingent consideration payable in respect of the prior year acquisition of Embest (MDD Europe and APAC).

PREMIER FARNELL OVERVIEW

Premier Farnell plc is one of the world's leading high service distributors of technology products and solutions.

The Marketing and Distribution Division (MDD) supports customers around the world who range from engineers to purchasing professionals and electronics enthusiasts. Customers benefit from our extensive product proposition with over 600,000 products from over 3,000 leading suppliers, including the latest technologies which we help suppliers seed to the market. This product portfolio is made available through our differentiating multichannel sales strategy with a highly effective regional warehouse model underpinning the delivery of high service to our customers.

Our Industrial Products Division is an innovator in life safety and the world leader in the manufacture of high-performance components for fire-fighting.

STRATEGIC PROGRESS AGAINST OUR THREE PILLARS POSITIONS THE GROUP FOR SUCCESS

Our core distribution strategy is founded on three key pillars which aim to maximise Premier Farnell's significant opportunities for profitable growth:

1. Focusing on customer centric segments through a personalised proposition that attracts and retains customers' business by meeting their distinct requirements

2. Multichannel sales and marketing strategy that makes doing business easier and more efficient

3. Grow internationally, especially in markets where there is opportunity for accelerated growth

We have made considerable progress as we implement this strategic vision whilst seeking to optimise Premier Farnell's financial performance through the economic cycles.

1. Personalised customer proposition

Over the past year we have made progress as we make our proposition more relevant to individual customers by increasing our focus on the differing requirements of the customer segments we serve.

Customers across our business value access to a wide range of products. We enriched our product proposition by adding over 100,000 product lines this year, an investment that enables us to support a greater number of customers in the high service electronics space. As a consequence of this £25.8m inventory investment, we also achieved record levels of in-stock availability, enabling us to better meet customers' high service expectations.

As we gain greater insight into customers' behaviour, we continually assess the relevance and appropriateness of our proposition in relation to each targeted customer segment. We believe that growing our active customer base in line with our KPIs and increasing the quality of our relationships with customers is critical to capitalising on the significant growth opportunities afforded by our markets. While we focused on leveraging our enhanced customer proposition by increasing the depth of relationship with our core targeted customers in the second half, we also instigated actions to phase out non-profitable customers in segments not core to our strategic objectives. As a consequence, our MDD active customer base was broadly flat year on year.

We will continue to focus on developing our capability at the front end of electronics, with our increasing expertise in development kits and tools playing a significant role as we enhance our proposition. By leveraging our multichannel sales and marketing resources we are then able to follow the design and win core business from customers who are engaged in prototyping and low volume production.

Our improving online customer insight awareness, which helped guide our recent inventory additions, is and will continue to enhance our ability to support the high service needs of all our customers, whether for design, prototyping, production or maintenance and repair.

2. Innovative multichannel sales and marketing

Through our multichannel model we are developing a personalised relationship with contacts in our targeted customer base. Customers can connect with us through traditional channels such as field sales, technical support and our contact centres but are increasingly choosing eCommerce channels such as eProcurement solutions, our 48 transactional websites or the industry leading element14 community. The Community continues to grow and now has more than 220,000 registered members.

This year, we decommissioned optical character recognition (OCR) technology for the fully automated processing of faxes because the cost of maintaining the OCR infrastructure no longer justifies its benefits as this channel becomes less favoured by our customers. Whereas this change resulted in a decline in eCommerce penetration to 55.1% of sales, it creates greater opportunity to benefit from further efficiencies from the business that we conduct through eCommerce channels in the future. We are further developing our online offering to support customer needs, especially through the upgrade of our global web platform and, as more customers choose to buy online, this will facilitate further operational efficiencies.

The upgraded web platform - now successfully implemented in North America - provides customers with an enhanced online experience and includes several features that make their transactional processes easier. Furthermore, it creates opportunities to improve efficiency and marketing effectiveness whilst providing a foundation for the acceleration of the Group's global expansion and our future web innovations. Building on the success of its launch in North America, the new platform will be implemented across the Europe and Asia Pacific businesses in the coming year and we are investing in the development of further eCommerce innovations, including the development of our mobile capability, further web personalisation and the opening of a Development Tool Superstore which will link into the Community and our transactional sites.

3. International growth, especially in Emerging Markets

Today, Premier Farnell is a global business with 80% of sales from outside the United Kingdom. Over the longer term, we believe that our Emerging Markets, specifically Eastern Europe, China and India, present the Group with the greatest opportunity for accelerated sales growth. This year, sales to the Group's Emerging Markets grew 14.9%, well ahead of our target of 10%.

Developing our business in Asia Pacific is vital to achieving this strategic objective and in 2013/14 China and India sales per day grew 25.7% and 20.3%, respectively. Asia Pacific's active customer base grew 11.7% this year, demonstrating the attractiveness of our customer proposition in the region.

We continue to develop our offering to customers in Emerging Markets through our multichannel sales strategy. Once we have completed the roll-out of our new global web platform, customers in these markets will be the principal beneficiaries of the enhancements to our web experience, providing further differentiation from local market competitors.

STRATEGIC PROGRESS: MEASURING OUR PERFORMANCE

Reporting our performance both against financial criteria and our key performance indicators (KPIs) is of paramount importance to the Group and our stakeholders.

Together, these KPIs underpin our commitment to deliver profitable growth and total shareholder returns. Our KPIs and performance against these "through-the-cycle" metrics are listed below.

Although not currently achieving all our targeted KPIs, we have outperformed against two of our "through-the-cycle" targets and improved performance against three metrics. With the actions now taken to remove non-profitable customers and target our web proposition at less efficient fax transactions, we are now directing our activities better as we evolve our plans to deliver KPI performances across the range. Performance against our KPIs will be discussed in further detail in our 2013/14 annual report.

STRATEGY UPDATE: CREATING COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATION

ACQUIRING FURTHER TECHNICAL CAPABILITY TO EXTEND OUR MODEL AND FOLLOW THE DESIGN

Premier Farnell is combining increased technical capability with our extensive multichannel marketing and distribution resources, including the element14 community, to evolve our business model in a move which will enable us to leverage our expertise at the front end of electronics new product introductions to identify new designs earlier in the cycle. We are now following these designs through to prototyping and production. This focus and the progress we have already made supports growth in our core business and expansion of our proposition into the OEM and CEM production space.

Today's announcement that we have signed an agreement to acquire the business and assets of AVID Technologies Inc. (AVID), subject to certain conditions, is a significant step in the evolution of our business model and the execution of our strategic vision as we focus on customer centric segments. AVID is a full service product development firm of 40 engineers that has expertise in analog, radio frequency and wireless induction technologies, adding to the embedded technology capability that we have already built through our acquisition of Embest in 2012.

Embest, which is specialised in ARM technology and has over 85 engineers based in China, has already proved to be a successful acquisition as its technological know-how has enabled us to partner with suppliers earlier than ever before as they bring the latest innovations to market. When combined with our global multichannel sales, marketing and distribution capability, including the element14 community, this creates a highly valuable offering to our key suppliers as they seed their new technologies into future electronics designs.

Some of the major semiconductor manufacturers, including Freescale and AMD, have chosen to sign agreements with Premier Farnell this year, enabling us to work with them more closely than ever before. These agreements allow us to work with our partners to design and manufacture development kits which are then sold back to the supplier or through our distribution channels. The market for the manufacture of development kits is estimated to be worth approximately £350m globally.

Providing access to the latest technologies is highly attractiveto customers engaged in electronic systems design at the front end of the electronics lifecycle. By working more closely with our supplier partners, we are gaining early visibility of the latest innovations and are better able to leverage this knowledge in our relationships with customers, providing us with competitive advantage, especially in the distribution of development kits and tools. In 2013/14, sales of development kits and tools grew 40.0% year on year and we are further enhancing our customer interface in this area through the upcoming launch of our new development tool superstore, providing a single online destination for the hardware and software customers need at the front end of electronics development.

SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

GROUP SALES MOMENTUM IMPROVES

Group sales per day grew 2.6% for the full year versus a prior year decline of 2.8%. Excluding Raspberry Pi, Group sales per day grew 1.0%. In the second half, Group sales per day growth accelerated to 4.4% as our businesses benefitted from a combination of improving market conditions, as demonstrated by the manufacturing PMIs and Semiconductor Industry Association data, and the benefit of investments made to enhance our customer proposition. Excluding the benefit of Raspberry Pi, Group sales per day in the second half grew 3.6% year on year.

EUROPE MOMENTUM MAINTAINED AND APAC GROWTH ACCELERATES IN SECOND HALF

MDD Europe and Asia Pacificsales per day growth accelerated in the second half to 4.9% year on year, resulting in full year sales per day growth of 3.6%.

Europe delivered sales per day growth of 3.0% in the second half and 1.9% for the full year as European markets continued on the slow and fragile path to recovery in 2013/14 following the Eurozone crisis 18 months ago. Europe's performance this year benefitted from investments in our multichannel sales and marketing capability following the implementation of an outbound contact centre in Krakow in 2012/13. The rollout of our upgraded web platform in the year ahead will further enhance our eCommerce channels in the region.

Despite Eurozone manufacturing PMIs indicating decline for the first half of 2013, Continental Europe grew 4.1% this year with strong performances by Eastern Europe, up 17.3%, and Germany, up 5.3%. With market conditions improving in the second half, Continental Europe delivered sales per day growth of 4.4%.

In the first half of the year, the United Kingdom was impacted by challenging market conditions with sales and certain large customers operating in sectors exposed to public sector spending cuts being especially weak. We took action to implement a series of sales and marketing initiatives, such as refocusing on areas which presented a greater opportunity to our business and this resulted in significant improvement in the territory's performance in the second half when sales per day were flat year on year. For the full year, UK sales per day declined 2.5%.

Asia Pacific provides the Group with a significant long-term growth opportunity, particularly in the key emerging markets of China and India. Despite mixed PMI manufacturing data throughout the year, we made solid progress in 2013/14, achieving growth rates of 25.7% and 20.3% in China and India, respectively and Asia Pacific's growth accelerated in the second half with sales per day up 14.9% year on year. Australia saw some of the lowest PMI manufacturing readings anywhere in the world in 2013 yet our business performed robustly, returning to positive sales growth in the second half of 2.5% and declining just 1.1% for the full year. As a result of these trends, China has overtaken Australia as our largest market in Asia Pacific, making up a third of the region's sales this year.

INVESTING TO STRENGTHEN THE AMERICAS

Americas' sales trajectory returned to growth in the second half of 2013/14, with sales per day up 1.3% year on year. This improvement resulted in the Americas limiting its full year sales per day decline to 0.6% on the prior year. Although the business environment has improved to some extent in the region, strong local competition has limited the extent of our recovery at a time when we have been focused on building an enhanced customer proposition. In addition, certain customer segments, including those who were heavily impacted by the tightening of federal government spending this year, continue to spend cautiously.

Towards the end of 2013/14, a new leader, Tom Hudak, previously President of Akron Brass and the architect of its strategy and considerable progress, was appointed as President of Newark element14 to develop the business and deliver improved medium term financial performance in line with our expectations. This year we have invested to strengthen the Americas business, including the upgrade of the region's web platform, and to enhance the value of its offering, whilst also taking action to implement cost efficiencies and improve its operating model. We expect the new leadership team to execute its plans to develop our Americas business into a digital enterprise and capitalise on the significant opportunities in the region over the medium term.

OTHER DISTRIBUTION BUSINESSES MOMENTUM MAINTAINED

Other Distribution Businesseshave performed strongly over the past year despite a challenging market backdrop to deliver combined sales per day growth of 3.6% in the second half and 3.9% for the full year.

CPC delivered sales growth of 3.3% year on year. This growth was underpinned by its value proposition, complemented by the delivery of a high service customer experience. A broad product range continues to help CPC differentiate itself from its competition. Supported by effective global product sourcing, CPC has enhanced its range for certain business customers such as installers and electricians.

The collaboration between our Other Distribution businesses continues as we leverage global efficiencies and sharing of best practice across key functions, including Product, Marketing and Warehouse Management. Throughout the past 12 months, MCM's proposition has benefitted from increased collaboration with CPC. By drawing on the insights and experience of the CPC team, MCM has enhanced its core product range to be of greater relevance to its targeted customers.

Raspberry Pi and related 'maker' products contributed to CPC and MCM's growth, both as a result of the implementation of our reseller strategy and via direct sales to 'makers' and electronics enthusiasts within their customer base.

MCM has continued its transformation to a web focused business. This year, while also reducing its reliance on larger account customers, MCM delivered sales growth of 5.4%.

MORE EFFICIENT RASPBERRY PI DISTRIBUTION DELIVERS SHARE GAINS

Raspberry Pi delivered sales of £31.7m for the full year (2012/13: £16.9m at constant exchange rates) as demand continued for this disruptive technology launched in May 2012. In the second half, we implemented a reseller model for sales from our main MDD businesses, supplemented by direct sales through CPC and MCM. This has helped improve efficiency, albeit with a small degradation to gross margin but with a stable operating margin, while also providing access to an enlarged customer base. Raspberry Pi sales per day growth was 33.1% in the second half.

AKRON BRASS DELIVERS STRATEGIC AND FINANCIAL PROGRESS IN 2013/14

Akron Brass had a standout year in 2013/14, delivering sales per day growth of 11.3% for the full year and 18.1% in the second half.

Akron has a significant share of the North American market and is continuing to focus on the development of international markets. In 2013/14, 33.1% of Akron Brass sales came from international markets, including its largest ever contract and the first to India, with the sale of specifically designed monitors to the Hindustan Petroleum Company Limited.

New product development is a key capability of Akron Brass as it looks to provide unique solutions to its customers worldwide. In 2013/14, Akron Brass acquired the assets of Reach Engineering LLC which provides further key technologies and resources to enable innovation in this market.

The progress made this year is encouraging and positions Akron Brass for continued strong financial performance in the year ahead.

OPTIMISING FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

The Group targets an operating margin that optimises profitability through economic cycles by seeking to balance gross margin and costs. Second half operating margin of 9.7% (on an adjusted basis) was in line with our expectations given the headwinds posed by currency movements and the impact of fewer trading days. As a result, full year adjusted operating margin was 9.6%. As we continue to invest in the execution of our strategy, we anticipate spending approximately £4.0m of incremental operating costs in the year ahead in order to accelerate our growth opportunities. We therefore expect that operating margin in 2014/15 will be at broadly similar levels to this year before improving towards our targeted range of 10% to 12%.

Gross margin for the second half of the financial year was 37.3%, down 0.4 percentage points from the first half, of which 0.1 percentage points was due to changes to Raspberry Pi distribution, 0.1 percentage points to business mix, and the remainder to disappointing gross margin performance in North America, particularly in the third quarter. We continue to remain focused on managing gross margin in line with market conditions.

The effective implementation of cost actions in the prior year, along with tight management of costs, reduced second half net operating expenses as a percentage of sales to 27.6%, down 1.0 percentage point on the prior year (at constant exchange rates). For the full year, net operating expenses reduced by 0.7 percentage points (at constant exchange rates) to 27.9% of sales. The Group will continue to manage its cost base both strategically, as we further simplify the organisation and take advantage of the efficiencies arising from increased eCommerce activity, and tactically, in response to sales volumes as we focus on optimising business performance.

Adjusting items include £3.9m of restructuring costs as we re-align our focus on areas of greatest opportunity, drive the efficiency of global operations and optimise performance. Offsetting this is a £1.6m net gain arising from the disposal of our Newark element14 Americas head office property, less associated costs. This relocation will enhance the working environment which will enable us to attract and retain key talent, develop our culture and accelerate our strategic objectives. Also included within adjusting items is a one-off £0.8m gain recognised in the second half following re-measurement of the expected contingent consideration payable in respect of last year's Embest acquisition.

Adjusted operating profitfor this year's 26-week second half was £45.5m (2012/13: £45.0m restated; 27 weeks), representing year on year growth of 1.2% at constant exchange rates. For the full year, adjusted operating profit was £93.0m (2012/13: £95.1m restated; 53 weeks), a year on year decline of 4.1% at constant exchange rates.

Total operating profitfor the second half was £43.8m, reflecting a net cost from adjusting items of £1.7m (2012/13: £47.1m restated, after reflecting a net gain from adjusting items of £2.1m), resulting in a year on year decline of 7.0%. For the full year, total operating profit was £91.5m, reflecting a net cost from adjusting items of £1.5m (2012/13: £89.3m restated, after reflecting a net cost from adjusting items of £5.8m), resulting in year on year growth of 0.3% at constant exchange rates.

CASH FLOW/BALANCE SHEET

Adjusted cash conversion at 93.2% (2012/13: 126.5% restated) reflected an increase in working capital of £23.7m, which was principally attributable to our planned first half inventory investments to enrich our product offering and support a greater number of customers in the high service space, focus on developing our offering in new product introductions at the front end of the design cycle, and investments to improve line fill. In addition, Raspberry Pi inventory increased as we are now better able to manage inventory levels and avoid shortages. During the second half inventory levels decreased slightly as expected, by £5.0m at constant exchange rates, as we optimised our inventory profile from a working capital perspective whilst remaining committed to maintaining our product proposition to support our customers' high service requirements.

Net financial liabilities (including preference shares) decreased to £225.8m from £229.6m at the end of the prior financial year. The impact of exchange rates in the period was to decrease net financial liabilities by £6.6m, principally in relation to our US$ denominated private placement notes.

Net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.0x at the end of the year was in line with our targets and the previous financial year end.

Premier Farnell's financial position remains robust, with good liquidity and strong free cash flow. At the year end, headroom on bank borrowings was £159.5m under facilities in place until October 2016. This headroom, combined with our net cash position of £42.8m, continues to give us a secure funding position. In June 2013, the Group repaid its $159m 2013 USPP notes as planned, significantly reducing our future finance costs.

FOREIGN CURRENCY IMPACT

There were significant foreign exchange movements during the course of the 2013/14 financial year, in particular as sterling strengthened against the US dollar in the second half, although for the full year the average exchange rate was broadly similar to 2012/13.

A one cent movement in the exchange rate between the US dollar and sterling impacts the translation of the Group's operating profit by approximately £0.2m per annum, and a one cent movement in the exchange rate between the Euro and sterling impacts the translation of the Group's operating profit by approximately £0.5m per annum. Overall, there was a beneficial impact on full year adjusted operating profit of £1.9m from the translation of overseas results compared with the prior year, reflecting both the foreign exchange movements and the phasing of profits.

If the current sterling-dollar exchange rate of £1 = US$1.67 had applied to 2013/14, the adverse impact on the Group's operating profit would have been approximately £1.8m.

FINANCE COSTS

Net finance costs in the second half were £7.1m (2012/13: £9.9m). Net finance costs in the full year were £16.7m (2012/13: £20.3m). This comprises net interest payable of £12.4m (2012/13: £16.0m), which was covered 7.5 times by adjusted operating profit, and a net charge of £4.3m (2012/13: £4.3m) in respect of the Company's convertible preference shares. In June 2013, the Group repaid its $159m USPP notes as planned, reducing our finance costs.

PROFIT BEFORE TAX

Adjusted profit before tax for the second half was £38.4m (2012/13: £35.1m restated), growth of 9.4% on the previous year. Total profit before tax was £36.7m (2012/13: £37.2m restated), a decline of 1.3% on the previous year.

Adjusted profit before tax for the full year was £76.3m (2012/13: £74.8m restated), growth of 2.0% on the previous year. Total profit before tax was £74.8m (2012/13: £69.0m restated), growth of 8.4% on the previous year.

TAX

The taxation charge for the full year represents an effective tax rate of 30.0% (2012/13: 27.2% restated) on profit before tax, preference dividends and adjusting items. As noted in our first half statement, we reassessed our current position based on prevailing tax rates, remaining tax provisions and utilisation of tax losses across the Group and as such we anticipate an effective tax rate at broadly similar levels to this year going forward.

EARNINGS PER SHARE

Adjusted basic earnings per share for the second half are 7.2p (2012/13: 6.9p restated). Basic earnings per share after the net impact of adjusting items are 6.9p (2012/13: 7.1p restated).

Adjusted earnings per share for the financial year are 14.3p (2012/13: 14.6p restated). Basic earnings per share after the net impact of adjusting items are 14.0p (2012/13: 13.3p restated).

DIVIDEND

The improving trajectory that we have seen in the second half provides the Board with confidence to recommend that the final dividend is maintained at 6.0p per share (2012/13: 6.0p per share), making a total for the year of 10.4p per share (2012/13: 10.4p per share). The final dividend, subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting on 17 June 2014, is payable on 25 June 2014 to shareholders on the register at 30 May 2014.

OUTLOOK

The new financial year has started positively despite the adverse weather conditions that impacted North America's February performance compared to the prior year. As we consider the outlook, investments in our strategy will further increase our capability at the front end of the product development cycle and accelerate the development of our online customer experience. We anticipate this will result in the coming year's operating margin at broadly similar levels to this year, reflecting the impact of our planned investment, thereafter the Group will be better positioned to deliver financial performance in line with our key performance indicators

RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The principal risks and uncertainties facing the Group are described on pages 30 and 31 of the Company's 2012/13 Annual Report and Accounts. As previously reported in our half year 2013/14 announcement, we have included very long term sustainability of distribution model, reflecting the potential impact of the pace of technological and environmental trends. We have also removed deterioration in the Eurozone economy from our principal risks, recognising the stabilising actions taken by the government bodies and central banks across these markets, although we continue to recognise economic exposure amongst our principal risks and uncertainties. Full details of the principal risks and uncertainties facing the Group and the ways in which they are mitigated will be given in the 2013/14 Annual Report and Accounts.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of the Group and certain of its plans and objectives, including, but not limited to, future capital expenditures, future ordinary expenditures and future actions to be taken by the Group in connection with such capital and ordinary expenditures, the expected benefits and future actions to be taken by the Group in respect of certain sales and marketing initiatives, operating efficiencies and economies of scale. By their nature forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Actual expenditures made and actions taken may differ materially from the Group's expectations contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Group. These factors include, but are not limited to, the implementation of initiatives supporting the Group's strategy, the effect of legislation and regulatory enactments, recruitment and integration of new personnel, the implementation of cost saving initiatives, continued use and acceptance of e-commerce programs and systems, implementation of new IT systems, the ability to expand into new markets and territories, the implementation of new sales and marketing initiatives, changes in demand for electronic, electrical, electromagnetic and industrial products, rapid changes in distribution of products and customer expectations, the ability to introduce and customers' acceptance of new services, products and product lines, product availability, the impact of competitive pricing, fluctuations in foreign currencies, and changes in interest rates and overall market conditions, particularly the impact of changes in worldwide and national economies. The Group does not intend to update the forward-looking statements made herein.

Condensed Consolidated Income Statement

For the second half and full year ended 2 February 2014

The accompanying notes form an integral part of this unaudited condensed consolidated financial information.

1 Comparative information has been restated due to the revision of IAS19. Refer to note 1 for details.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the second half and full year ended 2 February 2014

The accompanying notes form an integral part of this unaudited condensed consolidated financial information.

1 Comparative information has been restated due to the revision of IAS19. Refer to note 1 for details.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet

As at 2 February 2014

The accompanying notes form an integral part of this unaudited condensed consolidated financial information.

1 Comparative information has been restated due to the revision of IAS19. Refer to note 1 for details.

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 2 February 2014

The accompanying notes form an integral part of this unaudited condensed consolidated financial information.

1 Comparative information has been restated due to the revision of IAS19. Refer to note 1 for details.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

For the second half and full year ended 2 February 2014

The accompanying notes form an integral part of this unaudited condensed consolidated financial information.

1 Comparative information has been restated due to the revision of IAS19. Refer to note 1 for details.

Notes

1 Basis of preparation

The unaudited condensed consolidated financial information in this report has been prepared based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), as adopted by the European Union, and applying the accounting policies disclosed in the Group's 2012/13 Annual Report and Accounts on pages 76 to 79 except as described below.

The following new standards are mandatory for the first time in the current financial year which apply to the Group.

IAS 19 (revised) 'Employee benefits'. In accordance with the revised standard, the Group's accounting policies have been changed to replace interest on the defined benefit obligation and expected return on plan assets with a single net interest cost calculated by applying the discount rate to the net defined benefit liability. Administration costs are now recognised in the income statement when the administration services are provided, with provisions for administration costs formerly included as part of the defined benefit obligation having been removed.

A restatement of the comparative information has been made due to the revision to IAS 19. This has reduced previously reported 2012/13 adjusted operating profit by £0.9 million and total operating profit by £1.6 million, and reduced the Group's brought forward post-employment liabilities by £6.2 million.

IFRS 13 'Fair value measurement'. IFRS 13 measurement and disclosure requirements are applicable for the year ended 2 February 2014.

This condensed consolidated financial information does not comprise statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006. Statutory accounts for the financial year ended 3 February 2013 were approved by the Board of Directors on 22 April 2013 and delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditors on those accounts was unqualified and did not contain any statement under Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006. Copies of the Company's Annual Report and Accounts are available from Premier Farnell plc, 150 Armley Road, Leeds, LS12 2QQ, England, or from the Company's website at www.premierfarnell.com.

Going concern basis

After making enquiries, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The Group therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing its financial statements.

Estimates

The preparation of financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expense. Actual results may differ from these estimates. In preparing these condensed financial statements, the significant judgements made by management in applying the group's accounting policies and the key sources of estimation uncertainty were the same as those that applied to the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 3 February 2013.

2 Segment information