Good weather boosts trading at SIG

​Building materials supplier SIG ​​reported a good start to 2014, helped by the mild weather and weak comparatives with last year when bad weather hit trading.

​The Sheffield-based group said ​​2013 was a year of contrasting halves with a challenging first six months when the group was hit by poor weather and weak market conditions, but trading improved in both as the year progressed and the firm delivered a good second half performance.

Stuart Mitchell, ​SIG’s c​hief ​e​xecutive, said:​ “​There is a significant step-up in activity and investment this year, with meaningful payback expected from 2015 onward, and a net annual benefit target of ​around ​£30m by 2016.

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​“​We expect construction activity in the UK residential market to remain buoyant, with the non-residential sector continuing to be broadly flat. In ​m​ainland Europe construction markets are anticipated to be variable.

“The trading outlook, operational efficiency savings and a modest net benefit from our strategic initiatives give us confidence in achieving good progress in 2014.”

​SIG ​said full-year underlying pre​-​tax profit rose 5.3 per​ ​cent​ to​ ​£​88.1​m.

The company said in January it expected a full-year profit of at least ​£​85.8​m. Analysts had expected ​a profit of around ​£82​m.

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Following charges associated with its restructuring, losses on derivative financial instruments and losses on the sale of businesses, the group made a pre-tax profit of £2.1m.

Revenue for 2013 rose 4.4 per​ ​cent t​o ​£2.58bn, falling short of the average estimate of​ ​£2.69bn​​.

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