Sheffield's SIG has reported a bumper first half in which underlying operating profit has risen to £42.5m, more than treble that of the same time last year.
Investors in the building products supplier were told its two-year investment strategy to turnaround what had been a loss making firm was working ahead of schedule. It said growth had been delivered across operations in France, Poland, Ireland and the UK, with turnaround well underway" in Germany.
During the period revenue grew 22.6% to £1.3bn, helping in part by £120m of additional revenue delivered by three acquisitions in the past 18 months - Penlaw, F30, and Miers. SIG said its business benefited from the combination of high price volatility and solid demand, both of which it expected to continue throughout this year.
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Steve Francis, chief executive officer, said: "SIG is a structurally different business to two years ago - more specialist, more local, more productive, more flexible. Over this time, we have delivered above market performance and enabled a rapid return to robust profitability, along with a rhythm of steady progress. The first half of 2022 in particular saw significantly stronger growth than originally planned, which resulted in margin improvement across our operations.
"SIG today is resilient, flexible and sustainable: 80% of our products serve the insulation and building energy efficiency markets. We are by far the largest independent supplier in Europe of these products, which are needed now more than ever. Our strong market position, growth strategy and decentralised model will continue to enable us to navigate the pricing environment well and drive market share gains.
"In addition, our scale, diversification and resilience in uncertain markets mean that we are confident both in delivering the Board's expectations for the year and in our growth path to 5% operating margin in the medium term."
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