What impact has lockdown had on the UK building materials sector?
Breedon Group plc – the largest independent construction materials group in the UK, operating 98 quarries following a deal earlier this year with Cemex – is the latest firm to see numbers decimated by lockdown.
Breedon Group plc have reported a pre-tax loss of £10.1 million for the six months ended 30 June 2020, down 126% on last year’s first-half pre-tax profit of £39.5 million. Revenue for the half year was down 25% to £335.3 million (2019: £447.4 million) and underlying EBIT was a loss of £0.6 million (2019: profit of £49.5 million).
What impact has lockdown had on Aggregate Industries? Parent LafargeHolcim does not split out financial figures for its UK subsidiary, but in an announcement yesterday revealed:
Results for the Europe region were impacted by COVID-19 with full recovery in June. Markets in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe were resilient. Strict lockdown measures in the UK and France impacted the performance of the region. Volumes suggest a V-shaped recovery in June for the majority of markets, except in the UK.
