Profits and sales both grew strongly at Grafton over the first half as the firm drew on its first full contribution from recently-acquired Heiton.
The building materials and DIY group said yesterday that pretax profits had grown by 28 per cent to €87.4 million in the six months to the end of June.
Sales increased by 42 per cent to €1.3 billion in the same period, while operating profits were up 37 per cent at €96.5 million.
While Heiton provided the bulk of the first-half profit expansion, Grafton's existing businesses delivered profit growth of 7 per cent over the six months.
This came as a strong Irish merchanting market was balanced by slower growth in the UK, where higher interest rates caused a fall-off in consumer spending and business investment.
Like-for-like UK merchanting sales increased by 2.3 per cent over the half, with demand softening towards the end of June.
Michael Chadwick, Grafton's chairman, described the UK result as "satisfactory" but said Irish merchanting had delivered an "excellent performance".
He flagged continued growth in profits across the group for the whole year. Mr Chadwick said Heiton, which Grafton acquired in January, had provided nothing but positive surprises.
Among these surprises has been the discovery of a 10-acre site in the Bishopstown area of Cork, for which Grafton hopes to secure planning permission.
Mr Chadwick said the integration of Heiton should deliver cost savings of €9 million for the group this year, with this to grow to €17 million over the coming two years.
When Heiton is included in the Grafton numbers, Irish merchanting sales through the Chadwicks and Heiton Buckley brands increased by 143 per cent to €337.5 million over the half.
Sales at the group's DIY brands - Woodie's and Atlantic - were meanwhile up by 97 per cent at €127.4 million. Like-for-like sales in DIY were, however, down by 4 per cent, driven lower by a combination of competition and the impact of new Grafton store openings on existing sales.
Operating profits in the Republic as a whole climbed by 106 per cent to €42.4 million.
Operating margins dipped from 9.3 to 8.5 per cent, however, reflecting a decline in margins at Woodie's and a lower margin at Heiton's operations.
Grafton's mortar manufacturing business increased sales in both the Republic and the UK over the half, although UK profits dipped on the back of competitive pressures.
Shares in Grafton fell 43 cent to €8.50 yesterday, having gained ground in the run-up to the numbers. Instead of paying a dividend, the company will buy one A share per Grafton unit for 7.25 cent. This marks a 21 per cent increase on last year.
