* Q2 revenue 252 million pounds, vs forecast 233.8 million
* Pretax 23.8 million pounds, vs forecast 21.2 million
* Interim dividend raised 5 percent to 4.4 pence
* Shares up 3.5 percent
(Adds CEO comment, analyst reaction, shares)
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - British electronic components distributor Premier Farnell beat forecasts by more than doubling its second-quarter profit, helped by strong growth in China and a continuing recovery in North America.
"(Growth) was driven by our strategy of focusing more on the electronic design engineering segment, a rapid expansion into developing markets across Asia and eastern Europe and our transformation into a web-based business," Chief Executive Harriet Green told Reuters on Thursday.
Premier Farnell, which counts Microsoft, Nokia and Philips amongst its customers, posted an underlying pretax profit of 23.8 million pounds ($37 million) for the three months to Aug. 1, on revenue 30 percent higher at 252 million.
Growth had continued in August, with sales up more than 25 percent year-on-year. "The comparatives get harder, but we are seeing continued good performance into September," Green said. "There is a lot of innovation out there."
Premier Farnell's shares were 3.5 percent higher at 248 pence by 1025 GMT, after touching a 12-week high of 252 pence.
Analyst Gary Hewitt at Investec said the results were well ahead of his forecasts, and he expected to upgrade his forecasts by 3 to 5 percent.
"While the underlying markets have been recovering we also believe Premier Farnell has a strong point of difference with its evolving e-commerce offering and is, consequently, taking market share," he said in a note.
SILICON COMMUNITY
Premier Farnell is transforming itself into a web-based business, which has higher-margins than catalogue sales.
Nearly half of its sales, and more than 60 percent in Europe, were now on the web, Green said, where it has created a social community for electronic engineers called Element14. Of its more than 300,000 users 6.2 percent click through and buy things, she said.
Availability of electronic components had been constrained as manufacturers have struggled to meet demand following the downturn, but Green said the company had been well supported by its suppliers.
"For some while there's been a slight imbalance in the supply chain we would have all done more revenues if we'd had more product," she said. "It's still there but its not getting any worse. I think it is getting closer to balance."
She reiterated the company's medium-term aim of increasing its operating margin to 12-15 percent, the group was already at 11.2 percent in the first half, up from 8.4 percent. "We need our markets to stabilise, we came out of recession fast and early and we need to get to some kind of equilibrium."
Premier Farnell, which competes with Electrocomponents, raised its interim dividend 5 percent to 4.4 pence. Analysts were expecting the company to report revenue of 233.8 million pounds and pretax profit of 21.2 million pounds, according to a company-supplied consensus of seven brokers. ($1=0.6463 pounds) (Editing by Greg Mahlich)