Grafton revenue rises as Irish merchanting business grows

Building materials group Grafton said like-for-like revenue rose 5.5 per cent in the four months to the end of October 2018, with the Irish merchanting market showing a 10 per cent rise.

The UK business saw a 4.2 per cent increase over the same period, with the Netherlands increasing by 6.7 per cent.

Total revenue over the period rose 10.2 per cent as retailing revenue rose 4.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis, and manufacturing increased by 18.5 per cent.

Group revenue in the 10 months to October 31st was up 9.3 per cent to £2.5 billion (€2.87 billion), with the figure at 8.9 per cent in constant currency. Like-for-like revenue rose 4.4 per cent over the same period.

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Consistent trading

Chief executive Gavin Slark said trading had been consistent with its expectations. "The group has benefitted from its exposure to multiple geographic markets and saw its businesses in Ireland and the Netherlands perform well," he said.

“Following a good first-half performance, overall trading in the last four months has underpinned our confidence that we will deliver our expectations for the full year.”

Goodbody analyst Robert Eason described the performance as “strong”.

“On the back of this statement, we are upgrading our full-year forecasts by 3 per cent (ie operating profit of circa £188 million) which brings the cumulative revision in the year to date to circa 13 per cent,” he said.