Howden Joinery Grp Ord (HWDJF) Q2 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

and welcome to Haydn's 2025 interim results presentation. I will begin by introducing our performance in the first half and Jacqui Calloway, who joined us in June as our new CFO, will then review our financial results for the period. Welcome, Jacqui. 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 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 UK, 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 UK 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 UK. 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. During this year, we also expect to return a total of 100 million to shareholders through our latest share buyback programme, which we announced in Februa...