Manufacturer warns of weakening demand in UK market

Manufacturer Samuel Heath has highlighted “very patchy” performance in nearly all of its markets and warned that UK sales in particular had weakened in recent weeks.

The Birmingham-based bathroom fittings specialist has reported “satisfactory” figures for the six months to September 30, with sales up 11% to £7.4m.

Although profits were down 6%, to £690,000, this was expected after the previous year’s figures had been boosted by the drop in Sterling after the EU referendum.

However chairman Sam Heath warned that the outlook has darkened since the summer.

He said: “Although it is only a relatively short time since the end of September, we have to say that sales generally have weakened, particularly in the UK market, where the number of projects in the pipeline have decreased, not enormously but perhaps significantly.

“As always, it is difficult to forecast how this will affect the twelve months figures.”

“For the future, it is perhaps trite to say that we would prefer more clarity, but we would.”