Grafton sees building merchant Chadwicks performing at 'high levels of activity'    

Grafton also owns in Ireland the Woodie's DIY retail stores, which it said recently posted a small decline in home and garden revenue

The performance of businesses like Grafton that are exposed to housing markets and consumer spending are being closely watched, as households across Europe struggle for the first time in years with soaring inflation and with large hikes in interest rates. File picture: Robbie Reynolds

Building materials merchant Grafton said its Chadwicks distribution business in Ireland is performing at "high levels of activity", despite interest rate hikes and inflation that is weighing on some other parts of its European operations.                                 

In an update covering the last two months of 2022, the group also said that spending on housing improvements in Britain had led to a softening in demand at its Selco business there, but that other European markets, including the Netherlands and Finland, were doing well.