24 April 2012 - London, In recognition of the outstanding contribution made by Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) towards the growth of its PIC32 Microcontrollers in 2011, Microchip has presented the global multi-channel distributor with the Major Contribution to PIC32 Microcontrollers Sales Growth Award.

Sales of Microchip's PIC32 microcontrollers and associated development tools have grown consistently quarter on quarter since introduction in Q4 2008, but growth in 2011 was stronger than previous years. Premier Farnell's contribution has been instrumental towards the success of the Microchip's 32-bit product family on a global basis.

Premier Farnell offers a market leading range in Microchip's MCU portfolio along with accompanying supporting development kits and software. Through Premier Farnell's global distribution network, over 5,000 stocked products from Microchip can be ordered in bulk and are available for next-day delivery, supported by discussion forums and technical documents available via Microchip's dedicated page on the element14 community. Local language websites and regional offices ensure that Premier Farnell's customers across the world receive excellent sales and technical support on all its product lines.

"Not only is this a testament to the excellent work done by our global go to market teams but also a recognition of our key strategic relationship with such  leading supplier," said Marianne Culver, Global Head of Product Marketing and Supply Chain at Premier Farnell. "We will continue to enhance the Premier Farnell value proposition by continually developing and growing our already extensive Microchip product portfolio to meet the evolving requirements of our customers worldwide."

"Our PIC32 microcontrollers are enjoying strong sales growth with many designs reaching volume production. Microchip are delighted to recognise the major contribution Premier Farnell have made to the success of these best in class 32-bit microcontrollers," said Mike McGlade, Sales Channel Manager, Microchip.

Image caption:

From left to right: Mike Buffham (Farnell element14), Mike McGlade (Microchip), Richard Curtin (Farnell element14) and Malcolm Campbell (Microchip).

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About Premier Farnell
Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) is a global leader in high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, maintenance and repair. Its differentiated proposition includes 29 local language transactional websites, and the critically important element14 Community for design engineers - an industry first (www.element14.com). With sales last year of £990.8m and underlying profits of £93.3m the Group distributes its comprehensive portfolio of products and services throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, supported by a global supply chain of over 3,500 suppliers and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers' needs.

While global in scope, Premier Farnell recognises the individual needs of each market and has continued to internationalise its model accordingly. It trades locally as Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and Farnell Newark in Brazil. Across Asia Pacific the business trades as element14.

Key facts
• Operations in 35 different countries
• Over 4,000 employees
• Over 2 million customer contacts in 156 industries
• Supported by 3,500 leading suppliers
• Over 400,000 products stocked with access to over four million more on demand
• Global leader in legislation RoHS, WEEE, REACH

For more information visit the website at Premier Farnell.

For news updates from element14 visit:
Premier Farnell News Centre - www.premierfarnell.
Twitter - @element14news; @element14
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Or contact:
Email: pressoffice@premierfarnell.com

Contact Details:

Global Contact:

Ken Leitch
Global Head of PR
Premier Farnell and Farnell
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7851 4145
E-mail: KLeitch@premierfarnell.com

European Contact:

Aakriti Kaushik
PR Manager, Europe and Global
Premier Farnell and Farnell
Tel: +44 (0) 113 279 0101
Email: akaushik@premierfarnell.com

APAC Contact:

Christina Loh
Communications APAC
Tel: +65 6671 8769
E-mail: cloh@element14.com

Americas Contact:

Janice Fleisher
Communications Americas
Tel: +001 (1) 773 907 5941
Email: jfleisher@newark.com

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