Howdens Adjusts Pre-Tax Profit Forecast

Howdens today announces an update to recent trading. 

Recent trading

Since the Company's announcement on 2 November 2020, trading has continued to be strong, with Howdens UK depots' total revenue for Period 12 (1 November 2020 to 28 November 2020) increasing by 18.8% and by 17.2% on a same depot basis. For the year to date (Periods 1 to 12), total UK revenue was 5.1% below that for 2019. 

Full year profit

Guidance on gross margin is unchanged and the continued recent strong trading performance means that the Company now expects FY2020 profit before tax to be around 10% above the top end of current analyst forecasts^*.

Next scheduled announcement

The Group expects to release its 2020 Preliminary Results, including an update on market conditions, on 25 February 2021.

*The range of analyst expectations for profit before tax for 2020 is believed to be £123m to £152m.

Source : Howdens

Industry Commentary

Ross Counsell, Director at regulated property buyers, Good Move says: “The news of Howden’s increase in trading comes as no surprise given the increase in home improvements across the UK, especially during the lockdown period. In fact, home improvement related searches peaked during July, August and October.

“Due to the lockdown, many people chose to use this time to renovate their home, we’ve also seen an increase in people moving home during this period which again, will have positively impacted trading as people look to purchase furniture for their new home.

“Many are still looking to buy or sell their property and in turn, purchase new furnishings. Therefore it’ll be interesting to see how this impacts the businesses 2020 preliminary results come February 2021.”

Source: https://goodmove.co.uk/

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.