Electrocomponents says CEO to step down

(Reuters) - Electrocomponents Plc, a British distributor of electronic products for engineers, said Chief Executive Ian Mason will step down at the end of the financial year after 13 years at the helm.

Shares in the company fell as much as 5.4 percent, as the company also said sales growth in the second half had been much lower than anticipated. The company's shares were among of the top percentage losers on the FTSE Midcap Index.

Electrocomponents, which distributes about 500,000 products sourced from over 2,500 suppliers, said it would evaluate internal and external candidates for Mason's replacement.

The company said Mason had indicated that he wished to step down once its five-year developmental strategy unveiled by him in 2012 was "established".

Electrocomponents reported a 16 percent fall in first-half headline pretax profit at 37.4 million pounds as fewer trading days and a strong pound cut into earnings.

Reported pretax profit, which includes a non-cash pension credit of 20 million pounds, rose 24 percent to 55.5 million pounds.

"The numbers are below our 1H estimates, while a lack of improvement in growth into 2H will see FY forecasts come down once more," said RBC Europe analyst David Greenall. He indicated a "negative" sentiment on the stock.

Group Finance Director Simon Boddie told Reuters in May that the strong pound would have a small impact on profit for the year ending March 2015.

The pound has risen 0.17 percent against the U.S. dollar and 7.3 percent against the euro in the 12 months to Sept. 30.

The company said underlying sales rose 2.8 percent to 616.4 million pounds. Fewer trading days and currency movements reduced reported sales by about 36 million pounds.

Electrocomponents maintained its interim dividend at 5 pence.

Shares in the company fell as low as 222.1 pence on Thursday morning on the London Stock Exchange before recovering to 225 pence by 0958 GMT.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)