Grafton ‘has finance for acquisitions’

BUILDING materials group Grafton has the cash reserves to fund acquisitions outside of its core Irish and British markets, having issued a modest half-year earnings report largely in line with analysts’ expectations.

Grafton’s six-month pre-tax profits of €15.1m were up 13% on last year’s figures, a result which comes accompanied by cautious forecasts for the year ahead based on a slow building trade.

Excluding one-off costs, earnings before tax were €26.2m, up 40% yet marginally short of most brokers’ half-year predictions of €27m. This came from revenues of just over €1bn, giving a 10% higher interim dividend of 2.75c per share, and a headline earnings per share of 7.2c.