In Brief: United Carpets; Kingspan; FMG
UNITED Carpets, which claims to be the UK’s second largest chain of specialist retail carpet and floor covering stores, has today announced that trading in the second half of the current financial year has been better than expected.
The South Yorkshire firm said that on a like-for-like basis, sales for the 21 weeks of its second half to date are up 5.4% against the comparable period last year.
United Carpets said it expect its final results for the year ended March 31 2014 to be materially better than market expectations.
Paul Eyre, chief executive, said: “We have been encouraged with trading in the early part of this calendar year which will flow through to better than expected year end numbers. The changes we have made have transformed our business and with the economy as a whole appearing to move in the right direction, I am increasingly optimistic about the future.”
The business said the positive trading performance shows the benefits of the actions taken to restructure the business. During 2012, the group decided to close a significant proportion of its store base and re-evaluate the business, to create a smaller entity. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of stores from 85 to 59 today of which 48 are franchised and 11 are corporate stores.
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KINGSPAN has announced strong results after seeing improved momentum during the year.
In its preliminary results for the year ended December 31 2013, the group, which includes Hull-based Kingspan Access Floors, said that global sales at Kingspan grew by 10% to €1.79bn and trading profit by 14% to €122.8m. EBITDA increased by 10% to €162.9m.
In its Yorkshire-based access flooring business, improving UK office activity and resilient data centre related construction led to a positive year for Access Floors and sales revenue grew by 5% to €154.2m.
The group, which is headquartered in Ireland, said: “In the UK, the office construction cycle has already improved through late 2013. This trend is almost certain to continue in 2014 and our Hull based facility is operationally geared for the growth anticipated over the coming year or two.”
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FMG has won a five-year contract to provide fleet management services for two British Gas businesses, PH Jones and Dyno-Rod.
The contracts will provide vehicle repair management and driver development services for PH Jones vehicles, the providers of servicing and repairs for social housing and Dyno-Rod vehicles, the plumbing and drains business.
John Catling, CEO of Huddersfield-based incident management specialist FMG, said: “We’re delighted to be working with well-respected businesses, PH Jones and Dyno-Rod. By understanding these businesses, sectors and their drivers, we’ve been able to put together a bespoke solution to mitigate risk and reduce cost.”
