(Alliance News) - Howden Joinery Group PLC on Thursday reported growth in revenue and pretax profit for the first half of the year.
Revenue for the six months ended June 12 was GBP785 million, a rise of 69% year-on-year from GBP465 million and a rise of 20% from GBP653 million in the same period in 2019.
"Good further progress was made with developing the digital offering, with the Howdens.com web platform improving brand awareness and leading to increased web visits, online brochure requests and resulting depot contacts, and anytime ordering launched for trade customers," the company said.
Sales of "everyday" and promotional items were particularly strong.
Pretax profit for the period was GBP119 million, having swung from a loss of GBP14.2 million and a rise of 53% from a profit of GBP78.1 million in 2019.
The firm has performed ahead of its original expectations as it continues to benefit from its in-stock model and product availability. Despite significant cost inflation resulting from Brexit and COVID-19 related disruption, Howden have been successful in mitigating these with price increases and supply chain management, respectively.
The company decided to reinstate a dividend for the half year at 4.3 pence per share, compared to a year prior when Howden decided against a payout. It also represents an increase from the same period in 2019 in which the dividend was 3.9 pence per share.
The firm says it is cautiously optimistic in its outlook for the second half and are planning around several factors such as the potential effect of the non-continuation of recent pent-up demand seen from the second half of 2020 and the risk of any further pandemic restrictions on business operations or levels of consumer demand.
Shares in Howden were up 2.0% at 897.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Amrit Sahota; newsroom@alliancenews.com
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Howden Joinery (HWDN)