By Noor Zainab Hussain
(Reuters) - Engineering supply group Premier Farnell (L:PFL) said it expected a 10 percent decline in first-half adjusted operating profit after sales growth per day in its main markets slowed in the second quarter.
Premier Farnell shares were down 14.8 percent at 141.8 pence at 0841 GMT, making the stock one of the largest percentage losers on the London Stock Exchange.
The company, which makes and sells the Raspberry Pi – a mini, low-cost computer its founders created to help millions of people get online and learn to code - said its second-quarter sales growth per day had slowed significantly sequentially, particularly in its North American and UK markets.
Chief Executive Laurence Bain said that in the light of challenging trading conditions, the board had recently commenced a review of the group's operations.
He said the company would provide an update regarding the review in September, along with its interim results announcement.
Peel Hunt analyst Henry Carver said Premier Farnell will "just take a look division by division, country by country and review where they are making the right investments and where they are making the wrong investments."
"The interesting thing is it comes very quickly after a change in the global operating structure which has only just been finalised and implemented," Carver added.
Premier Farnell, which sells products from nozzles for fire hoses and de-icing machines to household soldering guns, had said in June last year that it would combine its marketing and distribution businesses to boost performance. The operations accounted for about 80 percent of its total turnover last year.
Last year, Premier Farnell battled falling profit and squeezed margins, hurt by strategic initiatives and discounting of the credit-card sized computer Raspberry Pi.
The company said on Wednesday that second-quarter gross margins would improve slightly from the previous quarter.
The company warned last month that first-half adjusted operating profit would be marginally below last year's as it works to implement a new global structure.