Saint-Gobain, which owns Jewson and International Timber, says its UK businesses started to enjoy more favourable conditions in the third quarter.
The UK and Spain were singled out by the merchanting giant as seeing noticeable improvements in business activity.
Overall, Saint-Gobain’s building distribution business saw its sales reduce to €12.8bn during the first nine months.
Third-quarter sales dipped by 11.5%, compared with a year ago, representing an improvement of 2% on the second quarter.
Group wide, Saint-Gobain’s sales for the first nine months totalled €28.4bn, down 15% on a year ago.
It expects to see a further relative improvement in performance during the fourth quarter.
