Irish building supplies company Grafton Group said today that first-half revenue rose 12.5 per cent to €1.6 billion on the back of its Irish home-improvement unit and a solid British market.
"The group expects strong double digit earnings growth for the period driven by improving returns in the UK and by an ongoing good performance in the context of slower growth in the Irish merchanting market," it stated.
The owner of builders' and plumbers' merchants in Ireland and Britain had said in May it had made a good start to 2007 and that it was confident about the rest of the year.
Grafton said improved conditions in the UK merchanting market in the second half of 2006 had continued into 2007 with mid-single-digit percentage growth in first-half sales.
At its Irish DIY business, the company said business had been strong with good like-for-like sales growth due to high levels of consumer spending.