Specialist building products distributor SIG Plc (SHI.L), in its four-month trading update for the period ended October 31, 2018, reported that group revenues from continuing operations decreased 2.3 percent, with increased working days contributing a further 1.6 percent, offset by 0.3 percent currency. Like-for-like revenues declined 3.3 percent.
The company noted that in the UK, commercial construction demand remains dampened by macro-economic uncertainty, while house price inflation is slowing and secondary housing market transactions have continued to fall.
Trading conditions in construction markets across Mainland Europe have also softened since June, notably in France as anticipated, where LFL revenues were down by 1.6 percent during the Period. LFL revenues were down 2.1 percent in Germany.
SIG noted that twelve months ago, the Group set out the conclusions of its strategic review, which identified the considerable opportunity for significant improvement in the operational and financial performance of each major operating company and across the Group as a whole.
The strategic review identified that improvements would come from focused delivery of three strategic levers around customer service, customer value and operational efficiency. The company said that the Group is now seeing evidence of tangible progress.
Looking ahead, SIG noted that while market conditions are challenging, the transformation of it business is progressing as planned. The company said that there is not change to its expectations despite challenging market conditions.
As such, SIG's management remains confident that the Group will see significant profit improvement in the second half of the year and deliver a result in line with its expectations.
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