Grafton: Trading in line with expectations

Builders merchants Grafton - who have received approval to purchanse rival Heitons - have said trading in both Ireland and the UK is in line with their expectations.

Like-for-like sales growth continued in Ireland and the UK during the second half of 2004. Group Turnover for 2004 exceeded €1.87bn and Group profits for 2004 are expected to be in line with market expectations.

Heiton Management have indicated that trading in Heiton Group plc has performed strongly during its six-month interim period up to October 2004. Grafton said to day that Heiton's financial results for this period were ahead of expectations.

In the year ended December 31 last, Grafton completed 17 acquisitions in the UK for a more than €69m. In Ireland, as announced last Friday, the group has received approval from the Competition Authority to complete the purchase of the Heiton group.

Combined, the Irish and UK acquisitions should add almost €700m of turnover to the Grafton group during 2005 and increase the branch network by over 80 trading locations, the company announced today.

During 2004, Grafton developed 12 merchanting outlets, three Woodie’s DIY stores and a dry mortar plant in Southampton, England. This added a further 16 branches to the group bringing the total network to more than 430 trading locations in Ireland and the UK.

Grafton said today that further growth is planned for 2005 with the development of additional greenfield merchanting locations and the completion of the eighth dry mortar plant in the UK and new DIY store openings in Ireland.