Eurocell interim profit and revenue up, confident on FY

Eurocell reported a jump in pre-tax profit for the first half as revenue grew.

In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit surged 63% to £10.29m on revenue of £97.2m, up 18% from the first half of 2015. Eurocell said revenue growth was ahead of a muted repair, maintenance and improvement market, which experienced a slowdown.

This was driven by a combination of above-market share gains across its branch network, new profiles customers secured in 2015 and the impact of recent acquisitions. Excluding acquisitions, revenue was up 11%.

The company, which manufactures and distributes window, door and roofline PVC products, declared an in interim dividend of 2.8p per share, up 4% from the previous year.

Chairman Bob Lawson said: “I am delighted to report a strong performance in the first half of the year. Notwithstanding market conditions that have remained challenging, we have reported higher revenues and profits. We have also made firm progress with all of our strategic priorities - product innovation, expansion of our branch network and the acquisition of Vista Panels Limited.

“Looking forward, the result of the EU referendum has created uncertainty. However, we have made a good start to the second half of the year with sales +17% (+8% excluding acquisitions) over the first seven weeks of the period and we believe that our proven strategy and capabilities will enable Eurocell to deliver value to our customers and shareholders throughout the remainder of 2016 and beyond.”

In the first seven weeks of the second half, total sales were up 17% and the company said this, together with its first half performance, underpins its expectations for the full year.

At 1050 BST, shares were down 2.4% to 160p.