UK construction group Breedon eyes more purchases as Irish business soars

British construction materials company Breedon Group has said it will continue to look for acquisition opportunities in Ireland on the back of its Irish operations driving group revenue growth in the first half of the year.

Breedon reported an 18% increase in group revenue - to £447.4m (€500m) - for the first half of this year, with pre-tax profit rising 30% to £39.5m. Its Irish division grew revenues by 153% to £93.5m.

Breedon entered Ireland in 2018 via the near €530m acquisition of housebuilding and aggregates business the Lagan Group. The business now trades in the Republic under the Lagan name and in the North as Whitemountain.

Lagan now operates as a fully-integrated aggregates, downstream products and contracting services business.

Breedon said that the first quarter of the year saw good demand for its products across England, Wales and the Republic; offset by fewer larger projects in Scotland.

Much of the strong UK performance weakened in the second quarter, but Breedon said demand in Ireland "remained robust".

"Lagan...experienced continued growth against a strong economic background, with new surfacing and maintenance contracts won in a number of city and county councils including Dublin, Sligo, Waterford, Cork and Kilkenny. Whitemountain...also experienced a busy period," the group said.

With Irish construction output expected to continue rising this year - with particularly strong growth set for the Republic - and next, Breedon said it will continue to seek potential bolt-on acquisitions here to build its aggregates business.

A spokesperson said the Irish market contains "great opportunities" by which to grow through acquisition, while management earlier this year said it was looking at Ireland as "a platform for growth".

"Breedon remains committed to delivering value for our shareholders through an efficient and flexible business model which enables us to achieve consistent organic growth however challenging the markets in which we operate may be. We look to augment this with earnings-enhancing acquisitions," the group said.