Revenues on the rise at bathroom supplies business

Cheshire bathroom supplies firm Norcros said revenues were up 12% to £162.5m in the first six months of the year.

The Wilmslow based company added that underlying operating profit for the first half is expected to be in line with expectations.

Norcros said performance reflected strong organic revenue growth of 4.4% in the group, excluding the significantly lower revenue from Johnson Tiles.

UK revenue for the first half was 16.4% higher than the prior year, reflecting in part the contribution from Merlyn, which continued to perform strongly.

On a like for like basis, and excluding Johnson Tiles, UK revenue was 2.5% higher, reflecting a very resilient performance as trading conditions, particularly in the UK retail sector and a number of export markets, were challenging.

The restructuring of the Johnson Tiles business, as announced in April, is proceeding to plan with the business back into profit in the first half.

Revenue grew in the South African business by 7.1% compared to the prior year, on a constant currency basis and by 3.9% on a reported basis reflecting the weaker South African Rand.

Closing half year net debt is expected to be around £54m, in line with expectations following the acquisition of Merlyn in the second half of last year.

A statement from the firm said: “The robust performance in the first half against the backdrop of a challenging trading environment continues to demonstrate the strength of our market positions, our leading brands and the financial resilience of our diversified business model.

“The board remains confident that these attributes will continue to drive market outperformance and will enable the Group to make further progress in line with its expectations for the year to 31 March 2019.”