18th Nov 2020 11:06
(Alliance News) - Building materials firm Breedon Group PLC on Wednesday said the improving trends it experienced in September have continued into the fourth quarter, resulting in an encouraging performance overall.
Revenue in both September and October were ahead of the same period in 2019, resulting in revenue of GBP750 million for the first 10 months of the year. This included three-months contribution from the UK assets of Mexican building materials peer Cemex SAB de CV.
Breedon bought these for GBP178 million back in January and has since integrated into its existing operations. The UK monopoly watchdog, the Competition & Markets Authority, last week said it is considering whether Breedon's offer to sell 14 sites will be enough to allow the acquisition to be completed. It said it will decide by the start of this coming January.
Breedon said Wednesday it expects its underlying earnings before interest and tax for 2020 to be at least GBP70 million, which would be down at least 40% from GBP116.6 million in 2019.
Looking ahead, Breedon predicts the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit negotiations will cause continued economic uncertainty into next year. However, forecasters expect further recovery in construction activity in the UK and Ireland going in to 2021, and the UK and Irish governments are making commitments to infrastructure spending, suggesting that the outlook for the market remains encouraging, it said.
Breedon said: "During 2020 we have proved our ability to deliver a resilient performance against a backdrop of unprecedented disruption, which gives us considerable confidence in the long-term outlook for our business."
Shares in Breedon were up 1.0% at 82.60 pence in London on Wednesday.
By Zoe Wickens; [email protected]
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