Grafton builds turnover 2.5%

TURNOVER at builders’ merchants group Grafton last year grew by 2.5% to around €2.05 billion, the company has said.

In a pre-close trading update, the group — which also owns the Woodies and Atlantic Homecare brands — also said it is expecting its 2011 operating profits to come in at the upper end of its previously guided scale of €52 million to €55m.

Management said trading conditions remained difficult during 2011, but noted there was “a firmer tone to turnover in the final two months of the year, which benefited from more favourable weather conditions compared to the same period in 2010”.

Grafton’s Irish business continued to suffer — turnover, for the year, was down by an estimated 6.4%.

Transaction levels did, however, manage to hold up well in the group’s Irish retailing business, even though lower spending on high-value products reduced turnover by around 4.7%.

Grafton said it will be recognising a non-cash provision of €19m in its 2011 accounts, relating to “a small number of onerous leases in the Irish retailing business”, on the back of the Government’s decision not to proceed with legislation to end upward-only rent reviews for existing leases.

Luckily for Grafton, its British business — which represents as much as 70% of group turnover these days, — remained buoyant, with turnover rising by 4.5%.