British building materials group SIG today reported a strong increase in sales across all its markets with the exception of Ireland where it said construction and building activity had declined significantly.
The company, which owns Capco in Ireland, said overall sales in the UK and Ireland increased by 17 per cent to £847 million during the first six months of the year compared with 2007.
But it reported that sales in Ireland had declined by 19 per cent.
Total sales in mainland Europe increased by 70 per cent to £643 million, reflecting the benefit of strengthening European currencies, it said.
The company met forecasts with a 10.2 per cent rise in underlying first-half profit and said it was confident of further progress but prepared for a slowdown.
"Trading since the end of June has been solid. Nevertheless, the group is mindful of the likelihood that trading in some of its markets may become still more challenging over the coming months," SIG said in a statement.
It said it was taking steps "to realign its cost base in those markets where medium term demand is expected to remain subdued whilst also keeping market developments under close watch ... to promptly implement additional pre-prepared contingency measures should these become appropriate".
The company posted an underlying pretax profit of £68.3 million in the six months to end-June, on sales up 36 percent to £1.49 billion, boosted by acquisitions.
SIG also repeated that "acquisition activity in the second half of the year will be materially lower than the first half, thereby helping to ensure that debt levels remain comfortable".
Net debt at end-June was £640 million, up from £429 million at end-2008.
It raised its interim dividend 3.8 per cent to 8.3 pence.
Additional reporting by Reuters