Howden Joinery Group Plc (HWDJF) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

2025-07-24 18:30:59 ET

Howden Joinery Group Plc (HWDJF)

Q2 2025 Earnings Conference Call

July 24, 2025 03:30 AM ET

Company Participants

J - Corporate Participant

Jacqueline Wynn Callaway - CFO & Director

William Andrew Livingston - CEO & Executive Director

Conference Call Participants

Aynsley Lammin - Investec Bank plc, Research Division

Benjamin Pfannes-Varrow - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division

Charlie Campbell - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division

Christen David Hjorth - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Clyde Lewis - Peel Hunt LLP, Research Division

Priyal Woolf - Jefferies LLC, Research Division

Rajesh Patki - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division

Robert Chantry - Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, Research Division

Shane Carberry - Goodbody Stockbrokers UC, Research Division

Zaim Beekawa - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division

a division of S&P - Unidentified Company

Presentation

William Andrew Livingston

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Howden's 2025 Interim Results Presentation. I will begin by introducing our performance in the first half. And Jackie Callaway, who joined us in June as our new CFO, will then review our financial results for the period. Welcome, Jackie. I will then share my perspectives on our 2025 performance to date and our plans for the remainder of the year, and then we'll take your questions.

The business has performed well in the first half in as we anticipated a challenging marketplace. The results met our expectations for the period, and we're on track for 2025. Group sales in the first half increased by 3.2% and were up 4.3% when adjusted for the lower number of trading days this year. In the U.K., we believe we gained kitchen market share in the period, which helped us mitigate a small single-digit decline in the overall size of the market. 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.

Profit for the period was ahead of last year, increasing at a higher rate than sales. We progressed our strategic plans for the U.K., which support our trade customers and total sales of our international operations increased significantly. At the half year, we had a total of 948 depots trading, including 871 in the U.K. 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....

Read the full article on Seeking Alpha

For further details see: