Norcros sales boosted by Vado acquisition

NORCROS, the Cheshire company which supplies showers, tiles and adhesives, has seen its half-year figures boosted by the acquisition of bathroom tap specialist Vado earlier this year.

The Wilmslow company, which has the Triton Showers and Johnson Tiles brands, said sales were up 9% to £116m in the six months to the end of September.

Underlying pre-tax profit, which does not include exceptional items and finance charges, was up 3.5% to £6.8m. After including these one-off figures the pre-tax profit was £500,000, down from £4.4m last time.

The business, which has 1,750 staff, said Triton sales grew by 1.5% to £25.1m, while Vado revenue was up 14% to £14.7m. Trade at Johnson Tiles slipped by 11.3%, with a 15.4% drop in the UK, but the situation improved in the second quarter reflecting increasing activity among housebuilders. Revenue at the group's South African business was 12.1% higher.

Chairman Martin Towers said: "In what has been a challenging market environment, I am pleased to announce a solid set of results for the six months ended 30 September 2013. Despite destocking in the UK retail sector, we have recorded strong constant currency revenue growth of 16.3% in the period, reflecting the acquisition of Vado, improving UK market conditions towards the end of the period and double digit constant currency growth in South Africa."

He added: "Despite the challenging environment, the board remains confident of the full-year outcome and believes the group is well positioned to benefit in the medium term should any improvement in market conditions gather momentum."

Source : James Graham - TheBusinessDesk.com
www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/541606-vado-deal-lifts-norcros-sales.html