A trading update issued yesterday shows group turnover for the year to 31st December at £436m, down 6.1% on 2023 (£463m). Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be slightly below current market consensus at between £23m and £23.8m.
The group’s merchanting division performed ahead of expectations, particularly in the final quarter of FY24 with like-for-like revenue 11% ahead of Q4 FY23.
In particular, the AW Lumb subsidiary, based in Tamworth, performed strongly in the second half and delivered a 5% full year increase in revenue on FY23. Lords’ specialist roofing business, Advanced Roofing, was 10% ahead.
Revenue for the division for the year, subject to audit, is expected to be in line with last year at £214m.
In January 2025, Lords opened a fifth George Lines branch at Aylesford Business Park near Maidstone, Kent. George Lines specialises in heavy side civil engineering, infrastructure, and construction products to local contractors, developers and builders for major groundwork, landscaping and engineering projects.
In October Lords generated around £4m of cash from the sale and leaseback of a George Lines branch near Heathrow. This provides security of tenure at a key site the business has operated from for more than 40 years, the company said.
The plumbing & heating division, which is typically strong in the winter months, had a challenging final quarter of the year, in contrast to FY23 which saw accelerated activity ahead of the introduction of the government’s clean heat market mechanism (CHMM) on 1st January 2024. FY24 revenue for the division, subject to audit, is expected to be £222m, 10% lower than FY23.
Lords Group chief executive Shanker Patel said: “In a challenging year across our end markets, the fundamentals of our business in customer service excellence, highly engaged colleagues and specialist brands have underpinned a resilient performance in 2024. We are particularly pleased to see merchanting’s strong relative performance in the final quarter.
He added: “We continue to tightly control costs and to optimise working capital. Net debt was reduced by £4.1m in the second half. As market conditions begin to improve, we are confident that the group is exceptionally well positioned for operational leverage to improve profitability, with ongoing organic and acquisitive growth.”
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