Grafton acquires UK timber merchanting company

Grafton Group has bought a timber merchanting business in the UK.

It has agreed to acquire Beaumont Forest Products, which has three branches in the south of England. It didn't reveal the purchase price.

The bolt-on acquisition will become part of Grafton's Buildbase operation in the UK.

Grafton operates 175 Buildbase outlets in Britain. In Ireland, the group owns the Woodies and Atlantic Homecare DIY chains, as well as Chadwicks.

Grafton intends to invest in the three Beaumont branches, expand their stock range and introduce its Hirebase and Electricbase businesses to the chain.

In the 12 months to the end of June 2013, Beaumont Forest Holdings generated revenue of £9.1m (€11.5m) and an operating profit of £646,000 (€815,000).

Profit

That compared with revenue of £9.8m and an operating profit of £712,000 a year earlier.

Beaumont said that although revenue had declined in the 12 months to the end of June last year, its gross margin increased 0.7 percentage points to 34.7pc.

Directors said they had been pleased with the performance of the business in the period given the difficult trading conditions in the building sector and generally low consumer demand.

"As for many businesses of our size, the business environment in which we operated was difficult for most of the financial year," directors noted in that set of 2013 financial accounts.

"However, in the last quarter of the financial year, the economic climate and the building 
sector showed signs of improvement," they added.

Source : John Mulligan - Irish Independent
www.independent.ie/business/grafton-branches-out-with-uk-timber-firm-30407627.html