Profits rise and turnover exceeds £225m for Howarth Timber Group

24 January 2020


Howarth Timber Group have declared a turnover of £225m in a year of "stabilising and futureproofing" with further growth for 2020 expected following previous significant investments.

A turnover of  £226.2m for the year ending 31 March 2019 resulted in a pre-tax profit of £7.7m compared to £198.8m and £7.3m respectively for the previous financial year.

Despite timber price rises during the year and cost in?ation for general building products, turnover rose 10% for Howarth Timber & Building Supplies with sales of Arbor Forest Products growing 16%. The Engineered Solutions business reported turnover growth of 16.7%. The group's Windows and Doors business reported a loss of £1.6m and following a consultation process with employees of this division was closed.

"The 2018/19 financial year was a period of stabilising and futureproofing the group, where we invested in group operations yet also managed to reduce our borrowings,” said Nick Howarth, managing director at Howarth Timber Group.

"The flexibility and diversity of the group has enabled us to weather the storm of Brexit uncertainty and the fluctuating housing market and, even though these macro-economic factors impacted on the volume and value of refurbishment projects for both our domestic and commercial customers, we've already seen an uplift this financial year.

"Whilst we had to take the difficult decision to close our windows and doors business, it wasn't one that we took lightly and, as the market was continuing its long-term decline and other areas of the group were performing well, we had to take steps to mitigate future potential losses.

"The investment and resources that we have driven into our operations will support the Howarth Timber Group through its 180th year of trading and beyond as we look at new ways of increasing market share, either through new products or new ways of delivering to the market. These include increasing our training budgets across all group companies, upgrading our New Holland dock with deeper birthing, investing in new manufacturing machinery at Arbor Forest Products and Howarth Timber Engineered Solutions, and Howarth Timber & Building Supplies launching two new merchant branches in Cheadle and Northwich."