Woodies owner Grafton Group said revenues rose by more than 10 per cent last year, boosted by growth in its Irish and Iberian businesses.
But a weaker home improvement and maintenance market in Britain weighed on revenues there, while Grafton’s Northern Europe division also reported weaker revenue year on year.
Overall, the group said it traded in line with expectations for the year. In a trading update ahead of reporting full-year results in March, Grafton said total revenue for 2025 was £2.52 billion (€2.9 billion), up 10.4 per cent from the prior year. The final two months of the year saw average daily like-for-like sales growth turn broadly flat.
Chief executive Eric Born described the company’s performance as “solid” in the final months of the year.
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“Despite continuing headwinds in some of our markets, the group delivered a solid performance in Q4 and an outcome in line with expectations for the full year,” he said.
The group’s full-year adjusted operating profit is expected to be in line with expectations, with its diversified portfolio providing resilience in “challenging” macroeconomic conditions.
The island of Ireland businesses, which include Chadwicks, Woodie’s, MacBlair and the now-divested MFP, saw average daily revenue grow 0.6 per cent in the final two months of the year, with average daily like-for-like revenue growth of 3.5 per cent for the year overall. The final two months of the year showed continued momentum in the Woodie’s retail business, although weaker trading in Chadwicks, largely attributed to the timing of job site shutdowns over the holiday period, offset that growth, the company said.
Although the average daily revenue figure for the Great Britain business rose 0.4 per cent for the year, momentum slowed in the final two months of 2025 as ongoing weakness in the home improvement market was fuelled by negative consumer sentiment around the November UK budget.
Among its Northern Europe businesses, modest growth in the Netherlands was offset by declines in Finland, leading to a drop of 0.5 per cent in average daily like-for-like revenue for the year, and a 2.9 per cent decline in the final two months.
There was brighter news from Grafton’s Iberia sector, where Salvador Escoda’s average daily like-for-like revenue rose 6.1 per cent for the year on a pro forma basis, and 4.4 per cent for the two-month period.
Despite slowing growth in the latter half of the year, the group said the outlook remained favourable.
“Whilst the Island of Ireland and Iberia segments performed strongly, meaningful recovery in Great Britain and Northern Europe did not materialise in 2025, and the timing of any improvement in these two segments in the year ahead remains uncertain,” Grafton said.
