Somebody had to put Premier Farnell out of its misery. A takeover by Dätwyler, of Switzerland, would be good enough news for its customers, engineers whose main concern is that the range of electronic goods on the shelves is wide enough to meet their needs and can be delivered straight away. The merged company will have more than a million products in its warehouses, which should keep them happy.
As for investors, this is about the best outcome they can expect after two profit warnings, a cut dividend and a departed chief executive, Laurence Bain. The shares were becalmed at or around their seven-year low. It was going to take a long time for the restructuring to return the share price to 165p, which is