Robust revenue growth at listed building materials business
Building materials supplier SIG has recorded strong revenue growth and an underlying operating profit of around £13.5m, which is better than its previous expectations.
The Sheffield-based company, which has published a trading update for the six months to 30 June 2021, says revenues in half one were strong, with like-for-like growth of 33% compared to the Covid-affected prior year and up 1% against 2019.
It says this reflects the ongoing positive impact of the Group’s Return to Growth strategy, which is delivering improved organic sales performance, and has been supported by continuing robust demand in the repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) segments in most markets.
Profitability improved throughout the period, a result of the normal seasonality in the business and the improving trading across the Group.
As a result, the Board expects to report half one revenues from underlying operations of about £1.11bn, and an underlying operating profit of around £13.5m.
The firm’s trading update adds: “The Group has remained able to trade safely throughout the period, working closely and flexibly with employees, customers and suppliers under the now well established Covid-19 norms.
“We are continuing to see shortages of materials in certain areas, as reported previously, and input price inflation remains significant in some categories. We have navigated these challenges with minimal impact to date, despite some longer delivery times.
“The effectiveness of our supply chain management and commercial agility give us confidence entering the second half, albeit we are mindful that the potential impact of material shortages could be more significant should the situation persist for an extended period.
“As such, we retain a cautious view of H2 at this stage. However, providing there is no significant disruption in coming months, we continue to expect H2 to be both profitable and cash generative, with full year underlying operating profit now expected to be ahead of previous forecasts.”
