Breedon boosts profit 29% after passing on cost increases

Breedon has reported a 29% ncrease in profit in the first half of the year, supported by price increases and hedging against cost inflation

The construction materials producer reported pre-tax profit of £59.5m for the six months to 30 June, up from £46.2m the previous year. It also increased its turnover by 12% to £671.1m over the same period.

The firm, which produces aggregate, cement, asphalt and concrete, is now expecting its full year earnings before interest and tax to be at the “top end” of market consensus range of £140m to £149m.

It said its business in the UK performed strongly as the “market operated rationally and customers accepted the well-publicised need for price increases”.

It said: “We delivered a strong trading performance in the first half with increasingly dynamic pricing successfully passing through significant inflationary cost increases into our end markets.”

Volumes of aggregates, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete fell year-on-year., by 9.3%, 5% and 11.8% respectively.

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Breedon said this was due to the market “normalising” after a post-lockdown surge last year. It said volumes are a still above the same period in 2019 pre-pandemic, with the exception of ready-mixed concrete, which has seen volumes reduce slightly because of plant closures to drive efficiency.