Abacus shares surged 7% on the day after the electronic components distributor reported pre-tax profits (excluding goodwill amortisation) down 54 % to £4.8m for the six months to March, a smaller fall than the market had feared. Sales fell from £108.3m to £79.4m. Market conditions remain pretty difficult, with customers still cautious about committing new money. However, Abacus reports that it has been winning market share. Before these results, analysts had flagged up around £9.5m in pre-tax profits for the full year, implying earnings of about 16p a share. The shares have recovered from around 140p since a profit warning last September. They have been buoyed by a welter of director buying, especially by financial director Peter Griffiths-Jones. As such, they do not look particularly cheap, trading as they do at well over 20 times prospective earnings.