The fuel crisis cost Oxford company Electrocomponents 1m in lost sales

However, the group's overall turnover still rose by nearly a fifth to £415m.

Chairman Roy Cotterill said orders for the firm's electronic and technical components had dropped when people could not get to work because of lack of petrol.

He said the recent storms and flooding had also reduced sales, by an estimated £200,000. But the company, which has its heaquarters on the Oxford Business Park at Cowley, said overall sales rose 18 per cent to £415m in the six months to September 30.

Revenues were boosted by the £241m acquisition of Allied Electronics last year, and by export growth. But costs resulting from the takeover depressed profits, down from £49.7m to £47.8m.

International sales were up by half, to 188m. Underlying growth, excluding the Allied revenues, was 24 per cent. UK sales rose 3.8 per cent to £208m on a like-for-like basis.

The company, which is the UK's largest distributor of electronic parts, is increasing investment in electronic commerce from 2.8m to £8.5m this year, which could lead to cost savings.

Electrocomponents, which joined the FTSE 100 in September, was founded in 1937 in a garage by two Hungarian Jewish emigres. In 1998 it moved its international management centre from Corby, Northamptonshire, to Cowley, where it employs more than 200 staff. It has outperformed its sector by six per cent this year.

Finance director Jeff Hewitt said operations in Japan had been launched last March.

The firm specialises in supplying small orders averaging 80, and takes 20,000 calls a day in Britain from engineers and technicians needing parts for repairs.