Profits and sales grow for Howdens
Howden Joinery, which has depots across the Black Country, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire, enjoyed growth in both sales and profits last year.
Group revenue grew by 4.8 per cent to £1.58 billion with pre-tax profits ahead by 9.3 per cent to £260.7 million in the year to December 28.
Revenue from its 732 UK depots increased by 4.9 per cent to £1,55bn.
Chief executive Andrew Livingston, said: "2019 was a year of progress for Howdens and I am pleased with how the business performed."
He said the group ended the year with £267m in cash, after investing £61m in the business and returning £126m to shareholders.
It opened 44 new depots during the year, including its first five in Northern Ireland and five in France.
"We have initiatives underway to improve business performance further, focussed on depot format efficiencies, improving range management and the development of our digital platform. We have a new depot format which is designed to enable us to use depot space more efficiently and give us the option to open smaller depots in new locations. Consequently, we see the opportunity for around 850 UK depots. Our investment in digital will both reinforce the strong local relationships we have with builders and improve awareness of the Howden offer with consumers," added Mr Livingston.
The group introduced 12 new kitchen ranges in the year. Five of the new ranges have cabinet doors manufactured by Howdens;
Howden Joinery UK depots sales in the first two months of the new financial year to February 22, increased by 1.6 per cent.
