RS Group sales leap 17% yoy

Operating profit advanced 26% to £402.2 million.

While the group continues to outperform in the industrial market, especially in EMEA, it notes trading over the first seven weeks of 2023/24 reflects a slowing in industrial growth, as indicated by PMI data, and continued weakness and aggressive competition in electronics.

Industrial products revenues rose 16% like for like and now represent 76% of the group’s revenue. Electronics products sales edge ahead 1%, representing 23% of sales.

Newly installed CEO Simon Pryce (pictured), commented, “RS delivered a strong performance in 2022/23 despite a more challenging macroeconomic backdrop in the second half. This reflected our on-going operational excellence initiatives, geographical, industry and product mix, inventory availability and strong pricing. Together with the efforts of our people this resulted in good financial results. We also acquired domnick hunter and Risoul and, after year end, agreed to acquire Distrelec.”

He continued, “After 30 days in the role, I am excited about the opportunity I see for RS going forward. We have a solid business, a sound strategy and great people. We are transitioning to an omni-channel operator in a large and fragmented market. We are supplier and increasingly customer focused, who see the value we bring as we move from being a product distributor to a solutions provider. We continue to invest in operational improvement, customer experience and digital and technical capabilities, and are extending our relevant product offer and value-added service solutions.

Pryce is confident that while mindful of near-term external challenges, RS Group will meet current consensus profit expectations for its 2023/2024 year.