Marshalls uncertain over market trends

5th Mar 2010 07:36

Another hefty chunk of restructuring costs kept paving slab specialist Marshalls in the red last year with sales this year struggling to recover.Turnover in 2009 was £312m (2008: £378m) from three fewer working days compared with 2008. Losses were £2.37m, against £4.5m, after one-off charges of £14.5m compared with £27m last time. Operating profits fell to £12.1m from £22.4m.On a like-for-like basis the underlying daily sales revenue for the full year was down 16.1% with some stabilisation in the second half, Marshalls said.Sales to the Public Sector and Commercial end market, which represent approximately 58% of Marshalls' sales, were down 17.5% for the full year and sales to the Domestic end market were down 12.9% compared to the prior year."There is still uncertainty surrounding the short term outlook for sales volumes, not least because of the impending election. In addition, the snow in January has led to a slower start to the year and makes it difficult, at this stage, to establish an underlying trend," Marshalls added.Marshalls, which raised £34m though a rights issue last May, is paying a dividend for the year of 5.25p.