SIG warns of further job losses after sales fall by 21.5% to €772m
The group employs 320 people here, down from 375 at the end of last year.
SIG said that it expects the “exceptionally challenging” trading conditions it has faced this year to continue for the near-term.
This statement coincided with it reporting a 21.5% year-on-year slump in sales in its core British and Irish operations.
The UK-headquartered insulation product specialist occupies the same sectoral space as Cavan-based company Kingspan, which publishes its own first half figures next Monday.
SIG reported first half sales of £667.1 million (€772.7m) for its Britain and Ireland operation – compared to £849.4m (€983.7m) for the same period last year.
Total group sales for the first half of this year were down by 10% – on a year-on-year basis – at £1.34bn (€1.55bn).
SIG chairman Les Tench said that poor trading conditions had negatively impacted all of the group’s operations – it also has a presence in 12 countries on the European mainland.
He said that management’s focus will now be on running the business tightly, reducing costs and focusing on cash management “while defending the group’s leading market positions and gross margins”.
A spokesperson for the group said that the process of further cost cutting does include operations in Ireland but couldn’t give any further information regarding potential staff cuts.
Meanwhile, Mr Tench said – following its successful fundraising of £340m (€398m) in March – the group is “well placed to trade through the challenging times ahead and benefit fully from the upturn when it arrives.”
The company said that consumer spend in the RMI (repair, maintenance and improvement) sub-sector – in both Britain and Ireland – continued to fall during the first half of the year.
It also referred to the “further significant contraction in residential construction” seen in the Irish market in the year to date.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
