Headlam confirms 2024 sales decline but remains confident

September 18, 2024

Headlam has confirmed a fall in sales against a challenging market and posted a loss for the first half of 2024.


Reporting its results for the six months to the ended 30 June 2024, the UK's biggest flooring distributor said sales were down 11.8% to £292.5m from £331.8m in 2023. UK-specific sales were down 11.3%


Headlam showed an EBITDA loss of £2.2m compared to a profit of £18m, with pre-tax losses amounting to £20.6m, down from a profit of £4.5m.


These figures were in line with market expectations as the Group had been flagging the poor state of the flooring market in 2024.


Group sales for July and August declined 8.4% compared to that 11.8% performance in the first half, indicating that there has been some improvement in trading conditions more recently.


Commenting, Chris Payne, Chief Executive, said: “The challenges impacting the flooring market have been well documented and are fully reflected in Headlam’s performance in H1 2024. Nevertheless, the Group has made good strategic progress and whilst these highlights are masked by external headwinds, it is particularly pleasing to see growth across the Group’s Larger Customers and Trade Counters."


The Group has also announced an acceleration of its strategy with a 2-year transformation plan to make Headlam a more effective organisation by simplifying the offer to customers and how it operates.

See related article: Bold steps to lead market recovery.

  • The CEO also commented: “Looking ahead, the lead indicators for consumer spending on home improvements are more positive, albeit the timing of recovery remains uncertain and is likely to be later than previously anticipated."


"However, with our new transformation plan underway, our teams are laser focussed on realising the benefits which will start to take effect in 2025, positioning the Group to emerge strongly when market conditions improve. We remain confident in the long-term outlook for the Group and look forward to announcing further progress against our plans in due course.”


www.headlam.com

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