Breedon deliver strong performance in 2018

Improved revenue and earnings delivered in the face of difficult trading conditions

BREEDON delivered a strong performance in 2018 in the face of difficult trading conditions, with improved revenue and earnings underpinned by contributions from recent acquisitions.

For the year ended 31 December 2018, revenue was up 32% to £862.7 million (2017: £652.4 million), underlying EBIT rose by 29% to £103.5 million (2017: £80.4 million) and pre-tax profit increased by 12% to £79.9 million (2017: £71.2 million). Net debt at the year-end was £310.7 million (2017: £109.8 million).

Breedon said the transformative acquisition of Lagan was taking them into new markets with significant growth potential, whilst the asset swap with Tarmac had streamlined their concrete network, strengthened their asset base and improved the quality of their earnings.

Last year Breedon sold 19.4 million tonnes of aggregates (2017: 16.0 million tonnes), 2.8 million tonnes of asphalt (2017: 1.9 million tonnes), 3.2 million cubic metres of ready-mixed concrete (2017: 3.3 million cubic metres) and 2.0 million tonnes of cement.

Commenting on the results, Peter Tom CBE, executive chairman of Breedon, said: ‘We can be justifiably proud of our results. We outperformed the GB market in sales volumes of all our key products, grew our revenues and underlying EBIT, and once again generated strong cash flow, enabling us to pay down a material proportion of our post-Lagan debt by the year-end.

‘Our company is in excellent shape and well placed to benefit from the medium-term growth predicted for our markets. We have a strong asset base, a highly cash-generative business and a talented management team, all of which give us a significant competitive advantage whatever the market conditions.

‘We are confident of making further progress in the current year.’