Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Builders merchant group Lords is expecting its 2024 revenue to be £436 m, compared with £463m for 2023, according to a trading update.
The merchanting division delivered a strong final quarter with Q4 revenue 11% higher than Q4 FY23, and second half like-for-like revenue 2.3% up on the second half of 2023. The plumbing and heating side saw weaker market conditions in Q4, with revenue falling 17% below the same period in 2023.
The Merchanting division’s performance was ahead of expectations, particularly at AW Lumb, which performed strongly in the second half and delivered a 5% full year increase in revenue on FY23. The specialist roofing business, Advanced Roofing, was 10% ahead. Revenue for the division for the year, subject to audit, is expected to be in line with last year at £214 million.
In January 2025, a fifth George Lines civil engineering branch was opened at Aylesford Business Park near Maidstone, Kent. As part of management’s focus on cash generation, in October 2024, the Group received around £4m of cash from the sale and leaseback of a George Lines branch near Heathrow, providing security of tenure at a key site the business has operated from for more than 40 years.
The Plumbing and Heating division experienced a challenging final quarter of the year. Full year revenue for the division, subject to audit, is expected to be £222 million, 10% lower than FY23.
Renewables revenue in the division grew by 170% to over £5.0 million for FY24 and the market is expected to continue its growth in 2025.
Shanker Patel, Chief Executive Officer of Lords, said: “In a challenging year across our end markets, the fundamentals of our business in customer
service excellence, highly engaged colleagues and specialist brands have underpinned a resilient performance in 2024. We are particularly pleased to see Merchanting’s strong relative performance in the final quarter. We continue to tightly control costs and to optimise working capital. Net debt was reduced by £4.1 million in the second half. As market conditions begin to improve, we are confident that the Group is exceptionally well positioned for operational leverage to improve profitability, with ongoing organic and acquisitive growth.”
