News

Middlesbrough-based independent builders’ merchant Atkinson Northern, parent company of JT Atkinson, saw turnover for the year to 31 December 2019 rise to £91m, up from £84.2m in 2018. Pre-tax profit also increased to £7.7m, up from £5.9m. The business closed all 28 of its branches from 24 March 2020 to …

Ferguson — US-based parent company of UK plumbers merchant chain Wolseley UK — saw revenue fall 0.9% for the year to 31 July to $21.8bn (£17bn). Despite this, the plumbing giant is to resume paying a year-end dividend to shareholders. Profit before tax fell 4.8 per cent to $1.26bn (£980m) …

Distributor SIG posted a first-half pre-tax loss of £125.4m for the first half of 2020, compared with a £2.3m profit for the same period in 2019. Turnover, at £840m during the period, was down from £1,113m. A new management team is now in place with a new growth strategy and …

Heating manufacturer Grant UK is taking on the sponsorship of the Devizes Town Youth Football Club Under 12’s Team for the 2020/21 season. The Devizes Town YFC is an organisation run by volunteers who provide football to boys and girls between the ages of 3 years up to 18 years. …

A new show from building trade radio station Fix Radio,  is being sponsored by British Gypsum and features Chris Frediani, the plasterer from BBC TV’s DIY-SOS as host The Plastering Show will air on Fridays at 1pm each week and be a real focal point for thousands of plasterers up …

Work has started on a Doncaster hospital’s new memorial ‘rainbow garden’ thanks to Polypipe Building Products and other local businesses. Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals Rainbow Garden appeal was set up to establish memorial gardens in both Doncaster and Bassetlaw to remember those who lost their lives to Covid-19. Doncaster-based …

Builders merchant Selco Builders Warehouse is sponsoring the Osbaldwick Cricket Club, who play in the York & District Senior Cricket League. A cricket club in York is hoping to leave its rivals stumped after securing sponsorship from one of the UK’s leading builders merchants. First team player, committee member and …

Quinn Industrial Holdings is to rebrand as Mannok , a move which will also affect the Quinn Building Products and Quinn Packaging  brands. The company issued a statement which said that the rebrand to Mannok marks the culmination of a 5-year transformation and investment programme that has repositioned the business …

Builders merchants’ trade association the Builders Merchants Federation has published its first Builders Merchants Industry Forecast Report to take account of the Covid-19 pandemic. Interrupted and unsettling trading patterns during the first six months of 2020 made the second half of the year more difficult to predict.  Initial forecasts expected …

UK timber company Premier Forest Group has been listed in the annual Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 league table which ranks Britain’s leading mid-market private companies. The inclusion of the Newport-based company reflects its strong financial performance, and also its work supporting the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly …