Marshalls calculates weather damage

7th Jan 2011 07:49

Paving slabs group Marshalls grew revenue by 4% in 2010, but the atrocious weather during December lost the company about £5m of sales and knocked £0.8m off operating profits.Revenue for the year ended 31 December rose to £323m from £312m as sales to the public sector and commercial end market - worth about 59% of all business - added 6%, and the domestic market 1%.Marshalls says the underlying sales performance in the second half of the year was "encouraging", though some of the outperformance was offset by the poor weather in the last five weeks of the year.The snow and ice disrupted manufacturing in Scotland, the North East of England and the company's quarrying activities. Indications from recent sales trends are that the group's markets have now stabilised and that marketing and sales initiatives are delivering positive results. "The short term outlook remains encouraging with good order books and a positive order flow," it said, with indications of an increase in demand in the public sector and commercial end market through 2011. "Despite the difficulty in forecasting and the uncertainty as to the likely speed of recovery, the group has operational flexibility for the medium term and is well placed financially and operationally to respond to changing market conditions," Marshalls said.