The attached slides were used at the Analyst Presentation by John Hirst and Andrew Fisher on the 9th September 2003.

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, the ability to recruit and retain management personnel, integration of 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.

Second quarter and half year resultsFor the period ended 3rd August 2003

Agenda

Andrew Fisher

Half year financial results

John Hirst Strategy and divisional review

Group Finance Director

Andrew Fisher

Financial Summary26 weeks ended 3rd August 2003 Sales £390.6m - up 3.1%

Operating profit £36.4m - operating margin 9.3% (before goodwill

amortisation and one off branding costs)

No evidence of improvement in major markets

Investment in working capital to support product range expansion

Net debt at £228.9m - interest cover 4.9 times

Unchanged interim dividend

Financial SummaryGroup

£m 2003/4 2002/3

Q1 Q2 H1 H1

Reported sales 201.8 188.8 390.6 392.6

SPD growth* 3.3% 2.8% 3.1% 1.0%

Gross margin** 40.1% 40.3% 40.2% 40.9%

Operating profit*** 19.4 17.0 36.4 41.9

ROS 9.6% 9.0% 9.3% 10.7%

* Continuing businesses at constant exchange rates

** Gross margin is measured after net costs of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments

*** Before goodwill amortisation and one-off branding costs

Like for like sales per day growth

£m 2003/4 2002/3

Reported sales H1 390.6 392.6

Exchange rate adjustment 8.4

Discontinued operations (0.7) (6.4)

Adjusted sales 398.3 386.2

Weighted average working days 126 126

SPD (£’000) 3,161 3,065

Sales growth 3.1%

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

2001/2 2002/3

$m

MDD Americas SPD and year on year growth rates

2003/4

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

2001/2 2002/3

£k

MDD Europe & Asia Pacific SPD and year on year growth rates(excluding BuckHickman InOne)

2003/4

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

-20%

-10%

0%

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20%

2001/2 2002/3

£k

MDD UK SPD and year on year growth rates(excluding BuckHickman InOne)

2003/4

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

2001/2 2002/3

£k

MDD BuckHickman InOne SPD and year on year growth rates

2003/4

300

400

500

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

2001/2 2002/3

£k

MDD Mainland Europe & Asia Pacific SPD and year on year growth rates

2003/4

0

50

100

150

200

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

Sa

les P

en

etra

tion

MDD North America

MDD Europe & Asia Pacific (excl BHIO)

2000/1 2001/2

£k

E-commerce SPD - Restated prior year & EDI

2003/42002/3

Financial SummaryGroup

£m 2003/4 2002/3

Q1 Q2 H1 H1

Reported sales 201.8 188.8 390.6 392.6

SPD growth* 3.3% 2.8% 3.1% 1.0%

Gross margin** 40.1% 40.3% 40.2% 40.9%

Operating profit*** 19.4 17.0 36.4 41.9

ROS 9.6% 9.0% 9.3% 10.7%

* Continuing businesses at constant exchange rates

** Gross margin is measured after net costs of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments

*** Before goodwill amortisation and one-off branding costs

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

FY FY FY H1

2000/1 2001/2

Gross margin progression

2002/3

MDD (excl BHIO)

BHIO

Note : Gross margin is measured after cost of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments

2003/4

Financial SummaryFirst half incremental SG&A costs

£m

Front office systems depreciation 2.6

Liege warehouse 1.3

Reduction in net pension credit 0.8

North American healthcare costs 0.4

On-going 5.1

One-off branding 2.4

Total 7.5

Financial SummaryIndustrial Products Division

£m 2003/4H1

2002/3H1

Sales - continuing 48.5 47.1

- businesses sold 0.7 6.4

- total 49.2 53.5

SPD growth* 4.4% 1.0%

ROS 13.8% 14.2%

* Continuing businesses at constant exchange rates

Profit and loss accountSecond quarter and first half to 3rd August 2003£m 2003/4

Q2 Q1 H1

Operating profit * 16.4 16.3 32.7

Interest (3.5) (3.9) (7.4)

Exceptional item 0.1 - 0.1

Profit before tax 13.0 12.4 25.4

Tax (4.1) (4.0) (8.1)

Profit after tax 8.9 8.4 17.3

Preference dividend (3.3)

Attributable to ordinary shareholders 14.0

Adjusted EPS 4.7p

* Includes goodwill amortisation

Taxation2003/4

£m H1

Profit before tax 25.4

Adjusted for : goodwill amortisation 1.3

gain on disposal (0.1)

26.6

Tax charge at 30.5% 8.1

Summarised cash flowsSecond quarter and first half to 3rd August 2003

£m 2003/4

Q2 Q1 H1

Operating profit 16.4 16.3 32.7

Depreciation (net of gains on disposals) 4.7 4.4 9.1

Amortisation of goodwill 0.6 0.7 1.3

Net pension credit (1.4) (1.4) (2.8)

Working capital (8.9) (5.7) (14.6)

Operating cash flow 11.4 14.3 25.7

Net capital expenditure (4.4) (3.5) (7.9)

Interest & preference dividend (9.9) (0.4) (10.3)

Tax (2.6) (4.2) (6.8)

Free cash flow (5.5) 6.2 0.7

Debtor days

46

48

50

52

54

56

58

60

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

2001/2 2002/3

Days

2003/4

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

170

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

Turns

2001/2

£m

Inventory

2002/3

At 2003/4 Q2 end exchange rates

2003/4

Liege warehouse

Newark InOne new product

£m 2003/4

Front office systems 3.0

IT 2.2

Liege warehouse 1.4

Other 2.7

Total 9.3

Sale of fixed assets (1.4)

Net capital expenditure 7.9

Capital expenditure

Movement in net debt

£m First half

Opening net debt (209.2)

Free cash flow 0.7Ordinary dividends (18.1)

(17.4)Disposal of business 0.8Capital retirement (2.3)Translation (0.8)

Closing net debt (228.9)

US$ Senior Notes due 2006, 2010 & 2013 (236.1)Other loans (25.4)

Cash and short term deposits 32.6(228.9)

Debt profile

- - - - - - Amount drawn at 3 August 2003

Bilateral bank facilities to 2006 at LIBOR + 0.5%

$155m 7.2% Senior Notes repayable 2006

$66m 5.3% Senior Notes repayable 2010

$159m 5.9% Senior Notes repayable 2013

2004 2006 2008 2010 20120

100

200

300

258

£m 357

Group CEO

John Hirst

What we’ve done - Talent, Technology and Service

Talent Laurence Bain appointed to Board, Stephen Canham - MD, Europe

& Asia Pacific

Enhanced leadership quality

Technology Product and customer data bases

Publication management system

Siebel CRM systems in UK/US - others to follow

eCommerce - eProcurement flexibility

Information for customers and suppliers

Service and Services

Logistics simplification in Americas and Europe

Focus on product ranges and service levels

Development of new services VMI/Stockroom solutions

Product Find - NIC sourcing

Product Watch - obsolescence

eProcurement

and all during possibly the longest down turn in the history of electronics industry

Further Actions

Portfolio rationalisation Maintenance Inc.

Acquisition Merkelbach

Entry to new markets Mexico, China, Austria, Italy, Spain

Key account focus Vauxhall, Rolls-Royce, Lockhead, successes Motorola, etc.

Market segmentation H&S, Government, Education, Design Engineers

Rebranding InOne

Market trends - as differentiation increases

Differentiation

Profits

Commodity

Product

Service

Customer experience

Our Aim:Through the quality of the customer experience build closer relationships Core proposition

Broad range of products

Always in stock

Swift and reliable delivery

Value added services eCommerce (web and eProcurement)

Vendor managed inventory

Product Watch - “obsolescence”

Product Find - sourcing

and many more

To WIN the hearts and minds of the engineers AND thecorporation

Our Aim:Through the combination of Premier Farnell and customers’ technology

Enable customers to: Drive down their total procurement costs

Increase their productivity and efficiency

Spend more of their time on core tasks

Thus delivering Economic benefit

Peace of mind

Appropriate for all customers - large and small

Progress - First half

IPD Akron

European and Australia successes

OEM market strong in first half

New product development continues

TPC Sales per day +3.4% in difficult market

New products and Mexican sales progress

KENT Progress in most countries

New products success

Progress - First half

MDD Newark InOne Direct Ship in Europe and Asia and Farnell InOne

in Americas

Re-branding plans smoothly implemented

CRM software - tangible benefit

7 globally managed accounts

Punch out for Motorola - China

Progress - First half

MDD - Americas Sales volatile in difficult market (SPD -3.4%) (Jan-June NEDA;

semis -6%; overall -4%)

US Government sales +17%

254 Stockrooms Managed

130 eProcurement partnerships McCain, Proctor & Gamble, Daimler Chrysler + 48 potential

42K new products - semi’s, passives and electromechanical

Siebel implemented training proceeding

campaigns underway

Progress - First half

MDD - Americas Mexico and Brazil sales progress

MCM sales growth in Q2

Progress - First half

MDD - Europe & Asia Pacific Market remains difficult - SPD +8.4%

UK SPD +10.8%, BHIO +23.1%

Mainland Europe - SPD +2.3% increases in Germany and Netherlands

Asia - SPD +15.1%, Australasia - SPD +2.9%

Major account sales up in many countries UK +112% Holland +8%

France + 19% Australia +6%

H&S segment sales +42%

Progress - First half

MDD - Europe & Asia Pacific Siebel - benefits now accruing to Farnell InOne UK business

Website - SPD +75%

168 UK Stockrooms managed

eProcurement partnerships 121 (59 potential) Pirelli, TNO, Disneyland

Liege on schedule for full operation in September

Outlook

No evidence yet of improvement in North America

European markets still weak

Focus on customer experience service

value added services

product range

Control of costs

Ready for 2004

Summary Extensive capabilities in place

Use of CRM to develop sales

Major accounts developing using services

252 eProcurement partnerships achieved 100+ in discussion

Stockrooms managed Americas 254

Europe & Asia Pacific 168

Segment progress

Absorbed £5 million of fixed cost

Poised for market improvement