Lords Group eyes benefit from shift in demand towards heat pumps

(Alliance News) - Lords Group Trading PLC on Wednesday said it expected overall revenue growth boosted by increasing demand for its Plumbing & Heating division, while it eyes a decline in revenue from Merchanting.

The London-based building materials' distributor said it expects revenue to have grown 2.8% in 2023 to GBP463 million. For 2022, it had posted a revenue of GBP450.0 million.

The company expects a 7.8% revenue boost from plumbing & heating to GBP248 million in 2023, compared to GBP229.3 million it had posted for 2022.

However, Merchanting revenue is set to have declined by 2.4% to GBP215 million in 2023. For 2022, Lords Group had reported Merchanting revenue of GBP220.8 million.

Looking ahead, the company said: "Lords is well-placed to benefit from a shift in demand towards air source heat pumps, enjoying successful and growing trading relationships with six air source heat pump manufacturers and achieving 60% revenue growth across its wider renewables range in FY23."

Chief Executive Officer Shanker Patel said: "Our scale and profitability in both Merchanting and plumbing & heating have benefitted from our organic growth levers as we build our geographic footprint, extend our product range and build our digital sales expertise. We maintain an ongoing ability to execute earnings enhancing mergers & acquisitions, but balance sheet discipline remains a core consideration. In that regard, it is pleasing to report net debt reduction ahead of market expectations. As market conditions improve, we are confident that we are exceptionally well positioned for growth."

The company will release its 2023 results in May.

Lords shares fell 4.9% to 40.42 pence each on Wednesday afternoon in London.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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