SIG cautious as sales slide eases

The Sheffield-based company, which was hit hard by heavy snowfall at the start of the year, said excluding this, underlying trading has been in line with its expectations.

SIG will tell shareholders at its annual meeting in Rotherham today that sales between January 1 and May 12 were down six per cent on a year earlier. However, as normal weather has returned, SIG said it has been a continuing fall in the monthly rate of decline in sales. In April, sales were two per cent lower than a year ago.

The group said the residential building sector, which accounts for about a third of its sales, has shown a gradual improvement this year in the UK.

"The group remains duly cautious on the timing and rate of likely recovery in its specific sectors and geographies," said the company. "However, there has been a clear slowing in the rate of decline in construction activity, led by residential new build and repairs, maintainance and improvement, in all of SIG's countries of operation, and recent trading trends continue to point to a levelling out in monthly sales sometime in late summer 2010."

The group added it is well placed to benefit from increasing demand for insulation, driven by regulation in the UK.