Headlam sales hit but "strong recovery"
January 21, 2021
The sales of the UK's largest flooring distributor Headlam Group were down 15% in 2020 but there has been "a strong and sustained recovery" with revenues up nearly 9% in the second half.
In a trading statement issued today to shareholders, the company said that trading in Q2 2020 was significantly impacted by COVID-19 but that trading in the second-half "was characterised by a strong and sustained recovery to 2019 levels."
As a result, total revenue for the full year was only 15.3% below the prior year at £609.1 million, compared to 30.6% below which was the situation reported for the first half of 2020.
In Headlam's statement they said; "The recovery was driven by the UK residential sector which performed exceptionally well despite the continuation of restrictions and further lockdown periods, and compensated for a significantly weaker commercial sector particularly in the UK.
"In the second-half, residential sector revenue was up 8.8% against the prior year compared to a decline of 17.8% for the commercial sector, albeit this still represented a strong recovery from the 34.4% decline seen in the first-half," it said.
The business added that it also expects to report underlying pre-tax profits of between £14m and £16m for the year ended for the year ended 31 December 2020.
Reporting on current trading, Headlam say January is 5.1% down on 2020 levels due to continuing lockdowns across the UK and Europe.
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