An increase in Billings compared to the previous month, but a decline on the same period last year was announced by Adam Fletcher, Electronic Components Supply Network chairman, in his distribution members’ consolidated results for September 2011.
Commenting on the results Fletches said: “Our members forecast that the underlying rate of Billings growth would begin to slow in the second half of the year and in this time of global economic uncertainty this is proving to be correct. UK and Eire customer demand has clearly diminished severely.
“Fortunately visibility across the entire electronic supply network remains good and the demand signals are quickly being transmitted and received, which is maintaining supply balance.
“That said, Bookings remain weak dragging the Book-to-Bill ratio close to the lowest recorded levels for a decade, at 0.85:1.”
Total Monthly Billings (Net Sales Invoiced less Credits) in September 11 increased by 11 percent when compared to the previous month but declined by seven percent when compared to the same period last year. Billings changes by product group in September ’11, compared to the same period last year were: ‘Semiconductors’ declined by 12 percent; Passives’ declined by 11 percent; ‘Electro-mechs’ declined by three percent; ‘Component Assemblies’ declined by 12 percent while ‘Other Products’ increased by 90 percent.
The Sales by Month ‘three month moving average’ for all electronic components continues to predict a slight decline, a trend that seems likely to be reflected in the full Q4 results: “Despite the plethora of negative sentiment about the macroeconomic environment I remain confident that ecsn’s forecast of a flat fourth quarter for the UK/Eire electronic components market is the most likely outcome and that Bookings will recover quickly in Q1’12.” concluded Fletcher.
