5 February 2016 – disposal
The group has announced the disposal of Akron Brass, its US based business which supplies life safety products and equipment to the fire-fighting and emergency services industries, as it is no longer considered to be a good fit with the group’s core business. The business is being sold for cash consideration of US$224.2m payable on completion. The proceeds will be used to reduce the group’s debt and redeem its preference shares and will allow the group to focus on its core activities within the global electronics distribution business. The transaction is expected to conclude by the end of March 2016. We believe that this is a sensible move by the company and upgrade our recommendation to BUY.