Revenues down 31% at Grafton

Building merchants Grafton Group, which owns the Atlantic Homecare and Woodies DIY chains, saw first-half revenue decline 31 per cent to €990 million, it reported today.

For the same six-month period a year ago the group reported revenues of €1.4 billion.

In a statement issued this morning, Grafton said that group profitability had been severely impacted by a lack of available credit and depressed markets.

It said that while trading conditions continue to be difficult, turnover has stabilised across the Group's activities since April.

The group's merchanting business, which accounts for 85 per cent of turnover fell by 24 per cent during the six month period.

UK operations traded at a profit while Irish operations were loss-making. A combination of trading profits at the group's UK divisionand a €26 million realised profit on investment and property sales substantially offset Irish trading losses, the group said.

The Group's retailing business experienced an 18 per cent fall in turnover while its manufacturing division reported a 49 per cent decline.