WAVIN, EUROPE'S biggest maker of plastic pipes for sewers, issued a profit warning yesterday on the back of concerns about the housing market in Ireland and Britain.

Wavin gets more than a quarter of its sales and a third of profit from Britain and Ireland.

Shares in the Dutch group yesterday suffered their largest setback since the company floated in October 2006, dropping 13 per cent to €7.65 in Amsterdam.

UK house prices fell a fourth consecutive month in February, according to a report released yesterday by Nationwide Building Society.

Second-half sales in Britain and Ireland fell 3.4 per cent to €216 million, Wavin said in a statement yesterday. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation declined 6.8 per cent to €35.8 million.

"We are particularly cautious about the UK/Ireland region, given the . . . ongoing decline of the Irish construction market," Wavin said.

In November, Wavin cut its 2007 sales forecast for the second time, citing "a sharp market downturn" in construction markets in Germany and Ireland.