9th Mar 2016 12:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Breedon Aggregates Ltd on Wednesday posted big increases in pretax profit and revenue as it sold more aggregates across the board and benefited from strong trading in England and Scotland.
Breedon said its pretax profit for the year to the end of December grew 46% to GBP31.3 million from GBP21.4 million in 2014, as revenue increased 18% to GBP318.5 million from GBP269.7 million.
The group sold 8.7 million tonnes of aggregates in the year, up from 7.7 million a year earlier, along with 1.8 million tonnes of asphalt, up from 1.5 million, and 900,000 cubic metres of ready-mixed concrete, up from 800,000 tonnes.
Breedon said its trading performance continued to improve in the year, with strong results in England and Scotland, and finalised its largest ever contract in the year, a GBP55.0 million deal cover the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route road project in Scotland.
The group added its outlook remains robust and is in the process of securing regulatory approval for the GBP366.0 million purchase of Hope Construction Materials Ltd, its largest ever acquisition. The deal will provide Breedon with a presence in the cement market and will boost its geographic footprint, along with creating the largest independent building materials company in the UK.
"The outlook for our business continues to be encouraging. The government remains committed to infrastructure investment and all the relevant forecasting bodies predict modest but sustained growth in construction output over the next few years. This means a steady growth in demand for our products. Against this background, volumes are expected to recover gradually to pre-recession levels by 2020," said Executive Chairman Peter Tom.
In a separate statement later on Wednesday, Breedon said Executive Director Simon Vivian will step down from his role on March 10. Vivian, the company's former chief executive, is likely to take up a non-executive role with the business, Breedon said.
Breedon shares were down 1.8% to 68.00 pence early Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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