LONDON (ShareCast) - Electronic components distributor Abacus Group headed higher Tuesday after swinging into the black for the full year, in line with expectations.

The firm reported a profit before tax of £600,000 for the year ended 30 September versus a £100,000 loss the year before. Revenue jumped 11.6% to £287m.

“The short term situation appears slightly more favourable as over the past few months we have seen more settled market conditions,” said the company.

The improvement came despite a “challenging” 12 months as market conditions deteriorated for much of the second half, while demand stayed at the lower levels in the final two months.

Abacus said its French operation achieved a 6% increase in sales despite independent forecasts of a 12% slip, although sales fell 5.5% in Germany.

The UK market showed the earliest signs of the slowdown and the company’s distribution sales suffered accordingly, although it maintained market share.

The final dividend is unchanged at 3.6p per share, giving a total of 7.2p for the year.

• News Channel