The distributor has outgrown the market over the past seven years and is confident of achieving growth organically, according to CEO Steve Rawlins. Figures from last year show that the company grew 7.6% in 2016, twice the rate of the electronic component supply network's (ecsn) DTAM.
Anglia’s strategy for growth is being driven by focusing on high levels of service, according to Rawlins.
“We are continually investing in our service and our people. We have added Anglia Sigma, a comprehensive, free dashboard which provides analysis of forward, current and historical orders and enquiries, as well as a vendor rating feature showing Anglia’s delivery performance. This allows customers to directly measure our service.”
Anglia, the UK’s largest independently owned component distributor, is on course to achieve a turnover of £60.8million in 2017, after £52.7m in 2016. It was the UK’s fifth largest component distributor in 2016 (according to the and the 27th largest in the world (according to ecsn. Source ESB).
“We are continuing to expand our team as our business grows. We need to if we are to maintain our high levels of customer service. Right now, we are seeking six additional field application engineers (FAEs).”
According to Rawlins, the UK market is remarkably buoyant, with manufacturing exports being helped by a weaker pound. He suggested that “Sterling is now at what I would consider the right level, despite the impact that is having in terms of increased component prices.”
“Our forward order book is the strongest it’s ever been,” although he did suggest that the market was now on allocation.
“There are shortages in many areas, including chip resistors and chip capacitors, although I believe we are well placed to address this. We strengthened our inventory position in the autumn, allowing us to continue to support customers as supply tightens and the industry moves to allocation.”