Howden Joinery PLC (LON:HWDN) has raised its profit expectations for 2021 to £300mln after a strong first half.
Interim revenues to end June rose to £785mln against £465mln a year ago and £653mln in the year before the Coronavirus pandemic.
UK depot revenues rose 19.8% to £764mln and by 15.3% on a like-for-like basis.
The kitchen and building products supplier trades from around 750 depots in the UK and 30 in continental Europe.
Building materials suppliers have been reporting big price rises for items such as timber, aggregates and bricks due to a combination of COVID-19 recovery, pent-up demand and Brexit but Howden made no comment on inflation in its brief statement.
“Since the period end, this pattern of trade has continued and we remain cautiously optimistic in our outlook for the second half and our all-important peak trading period,” it said.
“Whilst we are aware of the economic uncertainties that we face and the tough comparators from the second half of 2020, we remain confident in our business model for the future.
“Accordingly, we are currently expecting pre-tax profits of around £300mln for 2021 as a whole.”
Brokers had been forecasting profits of up to £270mln with a consensus of around £250mln.