Grafton Group

Earnings Release • May 8, 2019

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RNS Number : 2914Y

Grafton Group PLC

08 May 2019

Grafton Group plc

AGM Trading Update

8 May 2019

Grafton Group plc, the international builders merchanting and DIY Group, issues this trading update for the period 1 January 2019 to 30 April 2019 in advance of its Annual General Meeting which will be held at 10.30am today in the IMI Conference Centre, Sandyford Road, Dublin 16.

Group Revenue

Group revenue for the four months to 30 April increased by 6.1 per cent to £962 million (four months to 30 April 2018 £907 million) and by 6.5 per cent in constant currency.  Group like-for-like revenue increased by 6.4 per cent.

The Group benefitted from good revenue growth during the first four months of the year driven by a positive trading performance and more favourable weather compared to the same period last year.  Growth in total revenue was impacted by the disposal of two non-core UK merchanting businesses in the second half of 2018.

The table below shows the changes in average daily like-for-like revenue and in total revenue compared to the same periods in 2018.

Segment	Average Daily Like-for-Like Revenue Growth*	Total Revenue
Constant Currency	Actual (Sterling)
	Four months to 30 April   2019	Four months to 30 April 2019	Four months to 30 April 2019
Merchanting
- UK	4.8%	4.9%	4.9%
- Ireland	10.7%	10.7%	9.3%
- Netherlands	3.5%	8.0%	6.7%
- Belgium	14.8%	6.3%	4.9%
Retailing	12.2%	12.2%	10.8%
Manufacturing	7.3%	7.3%	7.2%
Group	6.4%	6.5%	6.1%

*Constant currency

Gavin Slark, Chief Executive Officer of Grafton Group plc commented today:                                            

"The Group had a positive start to the year and we should continue to benefit from the momentum in our Irish and Dutch businesses.  Underlying demand in the UK RMI market remains relatively subdued and we continue to focus on realising the benefits from the investments we have made in recent years into our higher margin Selco and Leyland SDM businesses."

Ends

For further information please contact:

Grafton Group plc                      +353 1 216 0600

Gavin Slark                                   Chief Executive Officer

David Arnold                                Chief Financial Officer

MHP Communications              +4420 3128 8778

Tim Rowntree

Murray                                          +353 1 498 0300

Pat Walsh

About Grafton

Grafton Group plc is an international distributor of building materials to trade customers and has leading regional or national positions in the merchanting markets in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium. Grafton is also the market leader in the DIY retailing market in Ireland and is the largest manufacturer of dry mortar in the UK.

Grafton trades from circa 675 branches and has circa 13,000 colleagues. Its portfolio of brands include Selco, Buildbase, Plumbase, Leyland SDM, MacBlair and CPI EuroMix in the UK; Chadwicks, Heiton Buckley and Woodie's in Ireland; Isero and Gunters en Meuser in the Netherlands and YouBuild and MPRO in Belgium.

For further information visit www.graftonplc.com

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