Operating income Revenue 960.1 million GBP (2015) Founded 1939 | Website www.premierfarnell.com Net income 47.5 million GBP (2015) | |
 | ||
Key people Steven Webb, President (interim) CEO Mark A. Whiteling (14 Aug 2015–) Subsidiaries Farnell element14, CPC, Newark element14, Farnell | ||
Premier Farnell Ltd is a British distributor of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, maintenance and repair throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific with operations in 36 countries and trading in over 100.
Contents
The company was founded in 1939 and had £960.1 million in revenue in 2015.
On 17 October 2016, Avnet completed its acquisition of Premier Farnell in a deal valued at approximately £691 million.
History
The company was founded by Alan Farnell and Arthur Woffenden in 1939 in Leeds under the name of A.C. Farnell Limited. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1966. The company was located next to the Wetherby railway station: as it grew it moved into larger offices on the town's Sandbeck Industrial Estate, and then in 1995, into offices in Armley.
In 1995 it acquired Combined Precision Components. As it focused on distribution, its manufacturing operations were sold the same year. In 1996 it went on to buy the Premier Industrial Corporation, a leading United States distributor, and in doing so changed its name to Premier Farnell.
In 2001 Premier Farnell went on to acquire Buck & Hickman, a company which it subsequently went on to sell in 2007. Premier Farnell announced in 2006 the completed sale of Kent, its specialist automotive consumables business.
The company underwent significant change in the mid-2000s, developing from a catalogues and trade counter business into an e-commerce operation, under the direction of Harriet Green, CEO, who joined the business in 2006.
In 2007 the group launched its Greater China business, Premier Electronics, with the opening of a new warehouse and distribution centre in WaiGaoQia.
Towards the end of 2008 Premier Farnell began the closure of Cadillac Electric (part of the group's Industrial Products Division). During the course of 2008 Premier Farnell also acquired Hynetic Electronics, an Indian distributor, and in early 2009 Premier Farnell went on to acquire Microdis Electronics, an electronics distributor based in Poland.
On 24 September 2009, it announced the acquisition of CadSoft Computer GmbH, developer of EAGLE electronic design automation software, which it later sold in 2016.
On 17 March 2016, Premier Farnell sold its Akron Brass subsidiary to IDEX Corporation for $224.2 million.
On 17 October 2016, Avnet completed its acquisition of Premier Farnell in a deal valued at approximately £691 million.
Operations
The Premier Farnell group trades globally under the following company names:
element14 Group
Non Core Brands
Products
Premier Farnell stocks 600,000 products across its regional warehouses. It also sells about half of the Raspberry Pi computers distributed worldwide.
Awards
The group is part of the FTSE4Good Index of Corporate and Social Responsibility and is also a Gold status member participating in the Business in The Community (BiTC) Corporate Responsibility Index - a group of over 800 UK companies who are committed to having a positive impact on the environment and society. 2012.