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(Alliance News) - Floor coverings distributor Headlam Group PLC on Thursday warned trading so far in 2020 has been slower than expected despite an encouraging 2019.
Shares were down 4.1% on Thursday morning in London at 483.32 pence each.
Revenue in 2019 came in at GBP719.2 million, 1.5% higher, despite a "soft market backdrop" and weakness in the UK residential sector, Headlam said. Like-for-like revenue growth was 0.7%.
Headlam's pretax profit fell 13% to GBP35.2 million, and underlying pretax profit dipped 9% to GBP39.5 million.
Profit fell, the company said, due to the weak market, cost inflation, and new accounting standards.
Headlam is paying a final dividend of 17.45p per share, the same as the year before, with the total dividend for 2019 at 25.00p, also unchanged.
"Against a backdrop of general softness in the market, it was encouraging to have recorded revenue growth on both an absolute and like-for-like basis during the year and, despite the reduced profit performance in-line with the guidance we gave in January 2019, maintained the full year dividend with that of 2018," said Headlam Chief Executive Steve Wilson.
"We have in place a strategy that will support the delivery of revenue growth and an improvement to both customer service and profitability, and are pleased with the enlarged scope and increasing momentum of the supporting activities."
Coronavirus has had no direct impact, Headlam continued, though it will be putting mitigation plans in place nonetheless.
"Trading to date in 2020 has been marginally below the board's expectations. Nevertheless, subject to no deterioration in market conditions or disruption, we continue to anticipate this year's financial performance will show a modest improvement compared with 2019 as advised in the January pre-close trading update announcement," said Wilson.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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