Bosses at electronics and maintenance products supplier Electrocomponents are upbeat thanks to a strong start to the year.

Ian Mason, managing director of the firm based at the Oxford Business Park, said: “Growth rates have improved around the world.

“Industrial production is up, customers are buying more and we are in great shape.”

While the company’s revenue and profits were hit hard in the first few months of 2009, by the end of the firm’s financial year on March 31, sales had grown by 15 per cent.

The company has 1.6 million customers worldwide buying from a catalogue of tens of thousands of products from washing machine parts to laboratory equipment. It employs 6,000 staff globally, 90 of them at the Oxford headquarters.

Mr Mason added that 41,000 new products had been added to the range during the finacial year and major growth was being seen in e-commerce which last year grew by 15 per cent.

The firm unveiled a pre-tax profit of £74.4m, down 14.1 per cent on the £86.6m achieved for the same period last year. Annual turnover was down slightly at £972.6m compared to £974.6m.