Building supplies firm Marshalls has reported a 13 per cent decline in revenue for the first half of this year.
Revenue was down to £306.7m in the six months to June 2024, compared with £354.1m for the same period in 2023.
This generated a pre-tax profit of £26.6m, down by 20 per cent on the first half of last year.
The London Stock Exchange-listed firm said in its results announcement that its performance was “resilient” in weakened markets.
It added that the results were helped by the finance team tightly controlling costs and working capital.
The balance sheet was strengthened through further reduction in net debt to £155.8m from £184.6m.
Marshalls said its landscaping products did not perform as well as expected but changes to operations were being “implemented at pace”.
Chief executive Matt Pullen said: “The result in the first half is encouraging and demonstrates that the strategy of diversification, building on the group’s historic core landscape products business, through the acquisition and improvement of less cyclical businesses in recent years, has resulted in a more balanced group.”
He was upbeat about the firm’s future prospects, not least due to the new government’s commitment to build more houses.
“We remain cautiously optimistic of a modest improvement in the group’s end markets during the second half of the year predicated on a progressive improvement in the macroeconomic environment.”
