SR Timber delighted at half-year batten sales growth

SR Timber is reporting a 12 per cent growth in sales of timber roofing batten for the first half of 2018.

The company – which is a leading importer of timber products and the UK’s largest importer of roofing batten – is seeing strong year-on-year sales of its flagship product, SR Timber’s Premium Gold.

Trading Director Shaun Revill is delighted with such robust growth, particularly in the current climate, and pointed to the trust that roofing contractors have in Premium Gold because of factors including the quality of the batten, the availability of stock, service and back up of technical expertise.

“We keep surpassing our own expectations for sales of Premium Gold batten. In 2017, we were up by more than 30 per cent on the year before, and we thought it would be a tall order to beat in 2018. But at the halfway point this year, having double-digit sales growth is a real credit to the SR Timber team,” said Shaun.

“Two of the biggest reasons behind the continued growth are the robustness and reliability of our supply chain infrastructure, meaning that we always have a constant flow of materials from the sawmills in Latvia, in transit to the UK and in stock at sites around the UK, so that we can typically process and deliver orders within 48 hours.

“Finally, and for us most importantly, the quality and consistency of our batten remain consistently high. This makes us proud because we have worked hard to be a driving force of BS5534, manufacturing batten that meets this exacting standard.”

Sales are also up on other core SR Timber products, including cedar shingles and Laminated Panel Products – and although the half-year growth figures are impressive, Revill said that the team at SR Timber are not resting on their laurels because there are still challenges ahead, particularly in the form of batten that doesn’t meet the requirements of BS5534.

“The roofing industry continues to respond favourably to suppliers that produce products that meet current British Standards,” said Shaun. “But there are still instances where inferior products are being used on roofs – with the worst offenders being those products that are masquerading as compliant batten.

“We continue to work with the roofing industry to explain the requirement for batten to conform to BS5534 and to help contractors to spot the differences between compliant batten and materials that really aren’t suitable to use on a roof.”

For more information about SR Timber, go to www.sr-timber.co.uk or follow the company on Twitter @SR_Timber_.