17 October 2019 – trading update
The company has issued a trading update covering the 27 week period to 6 October ahead of its interim results’ announcement which is due on 14 November. Revenue for the period is expected to be £181m, an increase of 11.4% over the previous year, with the increase helped by this being a 27 week period as opposed to 26 weeks last year and also benefiting from the acquisition of House of Plumbing in South Africa in April 2019. Whilst UK revenues were over 5% higher, those in South Africa rose by almost 25% helped by the acquisition. Net debt at the end of the period was around £42m (2018: £53.5m), in line with expectations. This is a robust performance in challenging markets demonstrating the strength of the group’s business and the fragmented nature of the industry continues to provide growth opportunities. We believe that the shares remain a BUY.