2024-07-27 06:07:09 ET
Howden Joinery Group Plc (HWDJF)
Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call
July 25, 2024, 3:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Andrew Livingston - Chief Executive Officer
Paul Hayes - Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Robert Chantry - Berenberg
Aynsley Lammin - Investec Bank
Benjamin Pfannes-Varrow - RBC Capital
Ami Galla - Citigroup
Christen Hjorth - Numis Securities
Charlie Campbell - Stifel
Shane Carberry - Goodbody
Sam Cullen - Peel Hunt
Presentation
Andrew Livingston
Welcome to the Howden's 2024 Interim Results Presentation.
I'll begin by introducing our performance for the first half. Paul Hayes will then review our financial results for the period and then share my perspectives on our 2024 performance to date and our plans for the remainder of the year. And then we'll take your questions.
The Group delivered an encouraging first half performance in as we anticipated a challenging marketplace. The results met our expectations for the period and we are on track for 2024. We continued with our investment program, which is focused on our key capabilities and which gives us, end-to-end, a stronger business.
Group sales in the first half, which included an extra week's trading in January were 4.3% ahead of those in 2023 and we're 48% up on 2019 being the year prior to the onset of the pandemic. In the UK, we believe we gained kitchen market share, which helped us mitigate a decline in the overall size of the kitchen market. Entry-level kitchens represented a higher proportion of the kitchens we sold, with sales of product in our kitchen categories increasing at a higher rate than in our joinery categories.
We maintained an industry-leading gross margin with gross profit ahead of last year as we balanced recovery of cost rises with our commitment to providing competitive pricing across the board for our customers. Reported first half profit was in line with last year's and 44% up on 2019. Excluding net spend on strategic investments above last year's level, first half profit increased at a similar rate to sales.
Our builders remained busy and we made good progress in our strategic initiatives for the UK and total sales of our international operations increased. The business delivered strong operating cash flow and we maintained a robust balance sheet. This gives us the flexibility to continue to invest in our growth plans for the business and to provide shareholders with an increased interim dividend for this year.
The interim results demonstrate the strength of our local trade-only in-stock model. A strong product lineup, high stock availability, industry-leading service levels and a very engaged team have all contributed to our performance, which benefits from the ongoing investment in our customer-focused strategic initiatives....
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Howden Joinery Group Plc (HWDJF) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript