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(Alliance News) - Forterra PLC on Tuesday said its profit decreased in 2019 amid weak demand for its products.
The masonry products manufacturer said pretax profit for 2019 declined by 10% to GBP58.2 million from GBP64.8 million a year earlier, as distributions costs grew by 5.0% to GBP54.4 million and administrative expenses rose by 8.5% to GBP21.8 million.
Revenue, meanwhile, increased by 3.4% to GBP380.0 million, driven by growth in Bespoke Products and specifically Bison Precast.
Forterra declared an 11.5 pence a share payout for 2019, up 9.5% from 10.5p paid a year earlier.
"The first half of the year saw strong demand for our products, which slowed in the second half as the impact of political and economic uncertainty weighed on consumer confidence. The general election result in December should provide greater political certainty in the future," said Chief Executive Stephen Harrison.
He added: "We remain optimistic that demand will recover through the year although this may take some time given an extremely wet winter."
Looking ahead, Forterra said it anticipates its performance in the first half of 2020 will be below that achieved in the first half of 2019.
Forterra shares were trading 2.6% higher in London on Tuesday at 291.75 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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