2nd Sep 2025 12:07
(Alliance News) - Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC shares fell on Tuesday as it reported a smaller profit for the first half of the year, and said it does not expect profit to increase in 2025.
The West Sussex, England-based brick maker said pretax profit sank 29% to GBP2.9 million in the six months to the end of June from GBP4.1 million a year ago.
In response, shares in Michelmersh Brick were down 7.9% at 89.90 pence in London at midday on Tuesday.
The firm said it now expects the full year outturn for 2025 to be "broadly reflective" of its financial performance in 2024, as it does not expect to recover the profit shortfall from the first half. However, the company added that it expects a return to growth in 2026.
Revenue edged up 1.1% to GBP35.8 million in the first half from GBP35.4 million. However, cost of sales climbed 5.3% to GBP23.8 million from GBP22.6 million and administration expenses grew 4.3% to GBP8.4 million from GBP8.0 million.
Michelmersh left its interim dividend unchanged at 1.60 pence per share.
The firm said higher UK despatch volumes were offset by "very challenging markets" in Europe. However, UK market despatch volumes remain around 25% below their 2022 peak.
Order intake was ahead of normalised manufacturing volumes in the first half of the year, Michelmersh said, supporting a balanced order book profile for the start of the second half.
The company confirmed that Rachel Warren has joined the board as chief financial officer with immediate effect.
Warren has joined from supply chain logistics specialist Wincanton PLC, where she was group finance director. Prior to that, Warren spent the majority of her career within the companies of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA.
This follows the departure of Peter Sharp as chief executive officer to become an industry adviser. Sharp was replaced by then-CFO Ryan Mahoney.
Looking ahead, Michelmersh noted "resilient momentum" in its order intake, which it said continues to run ahead of manufacturing volumes.
It said it is focused on maintaining a well-balanced forward order book with appropriate pricing in a "very competitive" market.
Michelmersh said it has temporarily stopped production at its Floren site in Brecht, Belgium in the third quarter due to a slow recovery in the Belgian market.
It expects production to restart in the fourth quarter.
The medium-term fundamental market drivers are "encouraging" despite an uncertain inflection point for market recovery, Michelmersh added.
"The timing uncertainty in the recovery of the wider UK construction industry and Belgium brick markets continues to challenge the group," said Chair Tony Morris.
"Given the scale of the investment to improve the production efficiency across our facilities over the last 12 months, the additional two-week shutdown at Carlton has impacted our profit metrics in the first half. As we move into the second half of the year, we are now seeing a normalised operational cadence in the UK which is supporting our commercial focus on maintaining momentum in our order intake and balanced order book."
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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