1. The attached slides were used at the Analyst Presentation by John Hirst and Andrew Fisher on the 19th March 2003. The slides could be incomplete without the oral commentary.

2. 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 presentation contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Premier Farnell plc and its consolidated subsidiaries as a group (the "Group") and certain of the Group's 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, economies of scale and the expected benefits to be realised from the acquisition of Buck & Hickman Limited. 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, integration of new personnel and new information systems, continued use and acceptance of e-commerce programs and systems and the impact on other distribution systems, the ability to open new facilities to increase service levels and reduce costs, the ability to expand into new markets and territories, the implementation of new sales and marketing initiatives, the integration of Buck & Hickman Limited into the Group, 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.

3. Premier Farnell plc Connecting with our Customers

4. Preliminary Results For the financial year ended 2nd February 2003 AGENDA Introduction - John Hirst, Group Chief Executive Financial Results - Andrew Fisher, Group Finance Director Strategy and Progress - John Hirst Questions

5. Perspective Where we were 12 months ago (18th March 2002) Unprecedented electronics slowdown- worst for 30 years Economic slowdown 11th September External view on markets more optimistic - pace and timing uncertain Counting on little help from the market

6. Action we took Mitigate downturn and win share  Early cost reduction; then tight control maintained  Determined progress on key initiatives  Focus on customers and customer service How it worked out  False dawn in Spring 2002 - optimism evaporated - all countries  Markets remained flat/soft for the rest of year, except Asia

7. Preliminary results For the financial year ended 2nd February 2003

8. Group Finance Director Andrew Fisher

9. Financial Summary 52 weeks ended 2nd February 2003 Sales £759.0m - up 1.2% Operating profit £82.9m - operating margin 10.9% (before goodwill amortisation) Tight working capital controls Cash flow, financial gearing and EPS benefits from preference share conversion Net debt at £209.2m - interest cover 5.3 times Dividend maintained at 9.0p

10. Financial Summary * Continuing businesses year on year sales per day growth at constant exchange rates

11. Q4 Group Result † Adjusted to eliminate 53 rd week (s: £16.8m, op: £1.7m) and impact of exchange rates (s: £9.1m, op: £0.8m) * Continuing businesses year on year sales per day growth at constant exchange rates

12. Financial Summary Group * Continuing businesses at constant exchange rates † Gross margin is measured after net cost of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments Second half sales progression

13. Financial Summary Group * Continuing businesses at constant exchange rates † Gross margin is measured after net cost of freight, packaging, discounts and inventory adjustments Stable operating margin: robust gross margins and tight cost management

14. 2000/12001/2 $m MDD Americas Sales Per Day 2002/3

15. 2000/12001/2 $m MDD Americas Sales Per Day 2002/3

16. 2000/12001/2 $m MDD Americas SPD and year on year growth rates 2002/3 Underlying sales run rate stable

17. 2000/12001/2 £k MDD Europe & Asia Pacific SPD and year on year growth rates (excluding Buck & Hickman) 2002/3 Year on year sales growth in second half 0% 10% 20% -10% -20%

18. 2000/12001/2 £k MDD UK SPD and year on year growth rates (excluding Buck & Hickman) 2002/3 -20% 0% 20% Year on year sales growth in second half 10% -10%

19. 2000/12001/2 £k MDD Buck & Hickman SPD and year on year growth rates 2002/3 -20% 0% 20% Rapid development of sales 10% -10%

20. 2000/12001/2 £k MDD Mainland European SPD and year on year growth rates 2002/3 Year on year sales growth in second half

21. 2000/12001/2 £k MDD Asia Pacific SPD and year on year growth rates 2002/3

22. 2000/1 2001/2 £k E-commerce SPD 2002/3

23. £m 2002/3 2001/2 Full year Q4 Full year Turnover 93.4 22.0 95.8 Year on year SPD growth* 2.8% 7.2% Operating profit 15.3 3.9 17.1 Operating margin 16.4% 17.7% 17.8% Industrial Products Division Continuing businesses * Continuing businesses year on year sales per day growth at constant exchange rates

24. Profit and loss account £m 2002/3 2001/2 Operating profit* 80.3 86.9 Interest(15.7) (15.9) Exceptional item (4.8) (11.0) Profit before tax 59.8 60.0 Tax (18.2) (21.4) Profit after tax 41.6 38.6 Preference dividend(10.8) (26.1) Attributable to ordinary shareholders 30.8 12.5 Adjusted EPS † 11.2p 9.2p * Includes goodwill amortisation † Excluding amortisation of goodwill and disposals

25. Taxation £m 2002/3 2001/2 Underlying charge29.9% 20.1 30.5% 22.1 Credits relating to prior year (1.0) (0.7) Disposals (0.9) - 18.2 21.4 Tax rates calculated on profit before tax and goodwill amortisation and disposal of business

26. Summarised cash flows £m 2002/32001/2 Operating profit 80.3 86.9 Depreciation (net of gains on disposals) 15.8 14.1 Amortisation of goodwill 2.6 1.5 Net pension credit (6.8) (6.7) Working capital 0.1 11.3 Operating cash flow 92.0 107.1 111% 121% Net capital expenditure (23.2) (23.5) Interest & preference dividend (26.6) (41.7) Tax (12.7) (27.4) Free cash flow 29.5 14.5

27. Debtor days 2001/22002/3 Strong collection performance and credit controls Days

28. 2001/2 £m Inventory 2002/3 At 2002/3 year end exchange rates Belgium warehouse

29. £m 2002/3 Front office systems 10.8 IT 7.7 Other 6.4 Total 24.9 Sale of fixed assets (1.7) Net capital expenditure 23.2 Capital expenditure

30. Movement in net debt £m Full year Opening net debt(236.4) Free cash flow 29.5 Ordinary dividends (28.1) 1.4 Disposal of business 3.3 Capital reorganisation (9.2) Issue of ordinary shares 0.7 Cash outflow (3.8) Translation 31.0 Closing net debt (209.2) US$ Senior Notes due 2003 & 2006 (189.0) Net borrowings and other loans (20.2) (209.2)

31. Debt profile - - - - - - Gross debt at 2 February 2003

32. Exchange Rates US $, 1 cent ~ £0.2 m profit (2002/3 average rate $1.53) Euro, 1 cent ~ £0.1 m profit (2002/3 average rate €1.58) Transaction impact Euro, 1 cent ~ £ 0.15 m profit Translation impact

33. Pensions - Defined Benefit Schemes

34. Summary Year on year and sequential sales growth Robust gross and operating margins Strong free cash flow Strong balance sheet Sound pension funding

35. Preliminary Results For the financial year ended 2nd February 2003 JOHN HIRST Group Chief Executive

36. Consistent themes over the last 2 years Leadership - ‘Strengthening the bench’  Group COO, Global Account Director, VP Marketing (NA), VP Strategy (NA), Group Director Strategic Marketing & Planning Improving the way we do business  Costs, gross margin stability, working capital  Technology - websites, Siebel, Publication Systems, Q20 Enhancing customer service  Service level focus, eProcurement, web, Product Find, Product Watch, vendor managed inventory  Customer, market, segmentation, focused direct mail, telemarketing  Focus on and global approach to key accounts

37. Strategy for Growth Achieving growth through managing the customer base more effectively Sales & Profits Growth New MarketsNew Customers Higher Customer Spend

38. MDD - Strategy for Growth Achieving Growth through  Sales & Profits Growth New MarketsNew Customers Segmentation Acquisition Global and Major Accounts Customer Service Higher Customer Spend Branding Product Range International Expansion

39. MDD - Strategy for Growth Achieving Growth through  Sales & Profits Growth New MarketsNew Customers Product Range International Expansion Global and Major Accounts Customer Service Higher Customer Spend Branding Segmentation Acquisition

40. MDD - Strategy for Growth Achieving Growth through  Sales & Profits Growth New MarketsNew Customers Product Range International Expansion Segmentation Acquisition Higher Customer Spend Branding Global and Major Accounts Customer Service

41. MDD - Progress despite conditions Product Range  46k Products added in MDD last year  More this year  Newark & Farnell Direct  Product Find (NIC) International Expansion  Italy / Austria / Mexico / China Product Range, International Expansion

42. MDD - Progress despite conditions Segmentation  Europe and Americas Regional Initiatives Education Health and Safety Design and Maintenance Engineers Government  Global Major Accounts eProcurement Early Adopters Segmentation, Acquisition

43. MDD - eCommerce -Americas Americas - sales up 8.5% YoY eProcurement sales up 52% 43 new eProcurement partnerships 42 underway £k

44. MDD - eCommerce - Europe and Asia Pacific Farnell - sales up 82% CPC web sales up 240% 65 new eProcurement partnerships 36 underway £k

45. MDD - Progress despite conditions Acquisition  Acquired small German Distribution business Buck & Hickman  Q4 sales YoY up 16%  Contract wins in collaboration with Farnell and CPC  VMI - valuable tool  Vauxhall / Rolls-Royce - major successes Segmentation, Acquisition

46. MDD - Progress despite conditions Major Account success  US Government +12% YoY despite budget approval delay Large potential  Americas - National accounts up 3% YoY  37 Wins in year 7 Americas 19 UK 11 Mainland Europe and Asia Global & Major Accounts, Customer Service

47. MDD - Progress despite conditions Major Account - Reasons for success  Wide product range - reliably and swiftly available  eProcurement flexibility - improved productivity  Vendor managed inventory solutions - cost reduction  Vendor reduction  Focused approach - more difficult for competitors Global & Major Accounts, Customer Service

48. MDD - Progress despite conditions Customer Service  Vendor Managed Inventory Americas-246 Stockrooms Europe and Asia Pacific -157 Stockrooms  Product Find on Website in US and 6 million products in UK  Product Watch introduced in Europe and Asia Pacific  Logistics Chicago closed -Liege opened Gaffney - ISO 14001 Global & Major Account, Customer Service

49. MDD - Progress despite conditions Rebranding Strategy - InOne  Major investment programme substantially complete  Customer and segment understanding progressing fast  Wide range of services developed and available across MDD  Businesses working together across boundaries  Customer access to millions of products, thousands of suppliers worldwide  Now is the time to re-brand - tell the market again of our improvements and capabilities  Retain existing brand equity Branding

51. Newark Many positives  Major account sales  Government Services Agreement (GSA)  eProcurement, Web, Stockroom successes Marketing Initiatives  Brand change  Siebel in March  New products in 2003 to segments - including doubled passives range  Direct Mail expansion

52. Industrial Products Division Akron Brass  Excellent performance  Sales ahead in declining market  International sales progress TPC  New product sales 16% of total  Expanding in Mexico and Canada  New segments Kent  Sales force restructured  New products introduced  Productivity improving

53. Outlook No discernible change in market conditions in immediate term Accelerated efforts to gain share Strong position further enhanced for market turn

54. Summary Positioning the business in difficult markets  More robust through the cycle  Tight control of costs  Gross margins maintained Enhanced offering to customers - driving key initiatives  Key accounts, eCommerce and VMI successes  Market share gains Capital structure enhanced Acquisitions add range, opportunities and value  Buck & Hickman strong growth Strong position further enhanced for market turn

55. Premier Farnell plc Connecting with our Customers