Grafton lets staff go as shares slip

SHARES in Grafton Group slid 4% yesterday after the building materials specialist reported strong first-half results but warned it would let 150 staff go in Britain to cope with a slowdown there.

The company, which owns Woodie’s DIY and Chadwicks builders merchants and which took over smaller rival Heiton for €360 million in January, reported record pre-tax profits of €87.4m in the six months to June, up from €68.4m in the same period last year. Revenues shot up 42% to €1.3 billion.

Executive chairman Michael Chadwick said the strong increase in profits reflected the impact of the Heiton deal and an excellent performance from Grafton’s Irish merchanting operations.