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Grafton Group PLC on Wednesday said that it is actively managing its cost base in response to challenging trading conditions and a decline in UK house building activity.
The Dublin-based building materials distributor and DIY retailer said revenue declined 4.4% to £1.14 billion in the first half of 2024, from £1.19 billion a year prior.
‘In the UK, the weak trends experienced in the first quarter in the repair, maintenance & improvement market continued up until the end of the period,’ Grafton said.
It said that in UK manufacturing, CPI Mortars continued to experience a fall in volumes in line with the decline in house building activity.
In Woodie’s DIY, the Home & Garden Business in Ireland, sales were lower than anticipated in the second quarter, but Grafton noted ‘good margin management and cost control has delivered an improvement in profitability over the same period last year’.
More positively, it added: ‘In the Netherlands, revenue growth from customers engaged on larger construction projects continued to partially offset the modest decline in sales to timber factories and smaller customers. There have been more positive signs that the housing market is starting to improve with increasing transactions and price rises in the existing housing stock.’
Grafton shares rose 0.1% to 942.35 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.
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