Group turnover for continuing operations was £99.6m, up almost 10% on last year’s figure of £90.6m, while operating profits soared 46% to a shade under £5m.
It was the first set of figures published without any impact from the disposal of the group’s ceiling, drylining and partitioning distributor, Nevill Long.
Chairman Peter Latham said one of the keys to the group’s success had been to continue to develop sales of its decorative products such as melamine and veneer-faced boards, as well as increasing sales of its solid surface product, LG Himacs. “In fact, last year we were voted LG Himacs distributor of the year worldwide,” he said. “These products are proving popular in commercial markets, with large shopfitters, and in domestic markets, with small joinery companies in fitted kitchens.”
While other suppliers had turned to China for its product, Mr Latham said James Latham had yet to follow suit.
“We are still in a position where we do little business with Chinese plywood because of uncertainties over its environmental credentials and certain technical issues,” he said. “By not dealing with Chinese plywood, it has cost us business with our second largest customer group – timber and builders merchants – but we have more than replaced this with sales of our decorative products.”
Cash reserves of £9m – a result of the disposal of the Clapton site and the Nevill Long business – will be used to upgrade warehouses at the older sites by introducing high racking and narrow aisles so that product changes can be handled more efficiently – a process already started at Yate and Wigston and due to start at Ossett during the current financial year.
The group also plans to move the Dudley and Eastleigh depots which have outgrown their existing sites, while Mr Latham said there were “opportunities to grow the business through acquisition”.
He also said one of the challenges going forward was ensuring the continuity of the group’s raw material supply. “Also, with timber prices increasing, UK manufacturers of finished products like furniture, who are supplying on fixed prices, are finding it increasingly hard to deal with raw material price rises,” he added.
