Preliminary Results

The attached slides were used at the Analyst Presentation by John Hirst and Andrew Fisher on the 18th March 2004. The slides could be incomplete without the oral commentary.

Cautionary Statement for Purposes of the "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. 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 introduction of new information technology and e-commerce platforms, 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 cost-saving initiatives to offset current market conditions, integration of new personnel and new information systems, continued use and acceptance of e-commerce programs and systems and the impact on other distribution 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 world-wide and national economies.

Preliminary Results For the financial year ended 1st February 2004

Preliminary Results For the financial year ended 1st February 2004 AGENDA Introduction - John Hirst, Group Chief Executive Financial Results - Andrew Fisher, Group Finance Director Strategy and Progress- John Hirst, Group Chief Executive Questions & Answers

Andrew Fisher Group Finance Director

Financial Summary52 weeks ended 1st February 2004 • Sales £764.6m - up 3.5% • Operating profit £73.8m - operating margin 9.7% (before goodwill amortisation and one off branding costs) • Improvement in major markets • Investment in working capital to support product range expansion • Net debt at £201.9m - interest cover 5.2 times • Dividend maintained at 9.0p

Financial SummaryGroup - full year * Continuing businesses at constant exchange rates ** Before goodwill amortisation and one-off branding costs *** Before goodwill amortisation and gains/losses on business disposals Gross margin is measured after net costs of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments

Like for like sales per day growth

Financial SummaryGroup * Continuing businesses at constant exchange rates ** Before goodwill amortisation and one-off branding costs Gross margin is measured after net costs of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments

MDD Americas SPD and year on year growth rates $m 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4

MDD UK SPD and year on year growth rates Excluding BuckHickman InOne £k 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4

MDD UK SPD and year on year growth rates Excluding BuckHickman InOne Including BuckHickman InOne £k 2001/2 2003/4 2002/3

MDD BuckHickman InOne SPD £k 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4

MDD Mainland Europe & Asia Pacific SPD and year on year growth rates £k 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4

E-commerce SPD £k 2000/1 2002/3 2003/4 2001/2

Gross margin progression MDD (excl BHIO) BHIO 2000/1 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4 Note : Gross margin is measured after cost of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments

Financial SummaryIncremental SG&A costs

Financial SummaryIndustrial Products Division † excludes sales of £0.7m (2002/3: £7.0m) and operating profit of £0.1m (2002/3: £0.1m) from disposed businesses

Profit and loss account £m 2003/4 2002/3 Operating profit* 68.8 80.3 Interest (14.3) (15.7) Exceptional item 0.1 (4.8) Profit before tax 54.6 59.8 Tax (15.6) (18.2) Profit after tax 39.0 41.6 Preference dividend (6.6) (10.8) Attributable to ordinary shareholders 32.4 30.8 Adjusted EPS† 10.1p 11.2p * After goodwill amortisation and rebranding †Excluding amortisation of goodwill, rebranding and disposals

Taxation £m 2003/4 2002/3 Underlying charge 29.3% 16.7 29.9% 20.1 Credits relating to prior year (1.1) (1.0) Disposals - (0.9) 15.6 18.2 Tax rates calculated on profit before tax and goodwill amortisation and disposal of business

Profit and loss account £m 2003/4 2002/3 Operating profit* 68.8 80.3 Interest (14.3) (15.7) Exceptional item 0.1 (4.8) Profit before tax 54.6 59.8 Tax (15.6) (18.2) Profit after tax 39.0 41.6 Preference dividend (6.6) (10.8) Attributable to ordinary shareholders 32.4 30.8 Adjusted EPS† 10.1p 11.2p * After goodwill amortisation and rebranding †Excluding amortisation of goodwill, rebranding and disposals

Summarised cash flows £m 2003/4 2002/3 Operating profit 68.8 80.3 Depreciation (net of gains on disposals) 19.3 15.8 Amortisation of goodwill 2.6 2.6 US pension credit (6.0) (6.8) Working capital (14.7) 0.1 Operating cash flow 70.0 92.0 98% 111% Net capital expenditure (17.8) (23.2) Interest & preference dividend (20.6) (26.6) Tax (14.5) (12.7) Free cash flow 17.1 29.5

Inventory £m 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4 At 2003/4 year end exchange rates

Debtor days Days 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4

Capital expenditure £m 2003/4 Front office systems 5.9 IT 7.6 Liege warehouse 2.8 Other 4.1 Total 20.4 Sale of fixed assets (2.6) Net capital expenditure 17.8

Movement in net debt £m Full year Opening net debt (209.2) Free cash flow 17.1 Ordinary dividends (32.6) (15.5) Disposal of business 0.5 Capital retirement (2.3) Issue of ordinary shares 0.9 Translation 23.7 Closing net debt (201.9) US$ Senior Notes due 2006, 2010 & 2013 (208.9) Other loans (24.7) Cash and short term deposits 31.7 (201.9)

Debt profile - - - - - -Amount drawn at 1 February 2004

Exchange rates • US $, 1 cent ~ £0.2 m profit (2003/4 average rate $1.66) • Euro, 1 cent ~ £0.1 m profit (2003/4 average rate €1.44) Translation impact Transaction impact • Euro, 1 cent ~ £0.15 m profit

Pensions - Defined Benefit Schemes

Summary • Return to growth in North America with exit rate of 5% • Further consistent growth in Europe and AsiaPac • Completion of investment programme - capacity - operational gearing • Dividend held

John Hirst Group Chief Executive

Industrial Products Division (IPD) Sales Operating Profit £96.4m £13.7m

Industrial Products Division Akron Brass • Sales 8.3% ahead in a static market • Acquisition of GFE expanded product range TPC • New product sales • Expanding internationally (Canada, Mexico) • New segments Kent • Sales advances in a falling market • France back in growth • Product endorsement by car manufacturers

Marketing and Distribution Division (MDD) Sales Operating Profit (adjusted) £668.2m £67.6m

Market dynamics • Cyclicality of electronics markets • Channel shift; move to the Web • Migration of production to low cost economies • Increased legislation • Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) • Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

Customers get more sophisticated • IT facilitating drive to cost visibility / reduction • Drive for productivity – waste elimination • Focus on key skills and outsourcing non strategic skills • Supplier rationalisation - tiering of distributors

Our proposition Economic benefit Peace of mind Broad Range. Always in Stock.Quick and Reliable Delivery. • Total procurement cost reductions • Focus on key skills • Control over procurement activities • Vendor reduction • Elimination of waste and excess inventory • Secure, reliable supply • Visibility of procurement activities • Ease & flexibility of transactions

Growing importance of partnership with suppliers • Emphasis on value adding marketing services • Route to market for suppliers • Awards • European Electronics Industry Awards • EPCOS UK ‘Distributor of the Year 2003’ • TYCO ‘Distributor of the Year – UK and Ireland’

Strategy for growth SALES & PROFIT GROWTH Higher Customer Spend New Customers New Markets Segmentation Acquisition Product Range International Expansion Global and Major Accounts Customer Service Branding

Product range expansion • 56,000 products added • Targeting design engineer with semis, passives and electro-mechanical • Expansion in 2004/5 remains a priority • Newark InOne Direct Ship adds a further 70,000 (launched in July) • ProductFind service gives access to 4.7 million more • Not-In-Catalogue (NIC)

Americas • US Government up 14% • eProcurement up 77% EAPac • UK up 65% (inc. VML, RR) • Germany up 9% • France up 31% Good progress with global and major accounts Global Accounts SMEs • Sales and relationships progressing well Major Accounts • Increasing focus in FY05

Customer service • CRM software delivering customer and productivity benefits • Global product database and publication management system • Pricing and publishing flexibility – speed to market • Sales through stockrooms • Americas up 3.8% YoY • EAPac up c.29% YoY • eCommerce sales reached £71 million, up 52% YoY

SPD £k Sales penetration 2000/1 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4 eCommerce now 15% of N.American sales • Newark InOne web sales up 37% YoY • Sales via eProcurement partnerships up 77% YoY • 133 Partnerships in place • 13 new partnerships in Q4, including Dow Chemical, Honeywell and Northrop Grumman

SPD £k Sales penetration 2000/1 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4 eCommerce now 12% sales in EAPac region • eCommerce sales in Farnell InOne sales up 72% YoY • CPC web sales up 238% YoY • Sales via eProcurement partnerships up 200% YoY • 65 new eProcurement partnerships

Rebranding(Before)

InOne family of catalogues

Preliminary Results