UPDATE 2-Electrocomponents sees sales growth return next yr
* H1 pretax profit 24.8 mln stg vs 42.2 mln
* October sales down 8 pct vs 17 pct fall in Q1
* Says confident in full-year result
* Management hopes for return to sales growth in next year
* Shares down 0.3 percent
(Adds CEO comments, analyst, shares)
LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - British electrical parts supplier Electrocomponents (ECM.L) said it expected a return to growth next year as it reported a slowdown in its sales decline in a first-half which was below expectations.
"If we saw the October performance go into the second half, we could exit the year flat to even positive," Finance Director Simon Boddie told reporters on a conference call.
The company, which distributes items ranging from cables to batteries and software, said October sales were down around 8 percent, compared with declines of 13 percent for the second quarter and 17 percent in the first quarter.
"We've seen customers placing more orders on the ground and those orders have been slightly bigger," Chief Executive Ian Mason said.
For the first half to Sept 30, Electrocomponents posted underlying pretax profit of 24.8 million pounds ($41.2 million) on sales down 15.3 percent at 447.2 million.
After reporting pretax profit of 86.6 million pounds for the whole of last year, Boddie said the current consensus for the year was around the "low 60s" and expressed confidence in meeting that.
Analyst Henry Carver at KBC Peel Hunt said he expected to cut his full-year forecast, which currently stands at the high end of consensus at 64.8 million pounds, by about 6 percent.
"Despite economic data improving recently, these results came in slightly lower than we expected," he said.
Shares in Electrocomponents, which have underperformed other London-listed support services companies .FTASX2790 by 11 percent over the last six months, were down 0.3 percent at 159.5 pence at 0946 GMT.
Rival Premier Farnell (PFL.L), which suffered a 16 percent fall in first-half sales, is due to report third-quarter results on Dec. 10. ($1=.6017 pounds) (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Rhys Jones and Mike Nesbit)
