SIG slips to FY loss

INSULATION and roofing group SIG (SHI.L) slipped to a full-year pretax loss, mainly on significantly lower construction activity amid the economic downturn, and warned that its first-half pretax profit will be well below last year.

By The Newsroom

Published 18th Mar 2010, 08:22 BST

The Sheffield-based company, which primarily operates in 11 countries in Europe, said today it estimated it lost around 30m in sales in the first two months of 2010 due to bad weather.

"The extreme cold weather conditions and snow experienced across the UK and mainland Europe in January and February have resulted in a particularly slow start to trading in 2010," chairman Les Tench said in a statement.

For the year ended December 31, the company reported a pretax loss of 55.3m, compared with a profit of 33.1m last year. Underlying pretax profit fell 56 per cent to 60.6m.

Revenue fell 10 per cent to 2.74bn, while like-for-like sales were down 11.6 per cent.

The company said it was not proposing a final dividend for 2009.

SIG shares closed at 127.40 pence yesterday on the London Stock Exchange.

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