Howden Joinery Grp Ord (HWDJF) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Haydn's 2025 results presentation. So I'll begin by introducing our performance for the year. Jackie Calloway, our CFO, will then review our financial results for the period. And then I'll share my perspectives on our 2025 performance and our plans for this year. And then we'll take your questions. The business advanced on all fronts in as we anticipated the challenging UK marketplace. The results were at the top end of our expectations and we've made an encouraging start to 2026. Group sales were up 4% year on year with the business continuing to perform well in the final two periods of the year. In the UK, we gained kitchen market share, which helped us mitigate a small single-digit decline in the overall market size. Our kitchen volumes rose, which helped us consolidate the significant market share gains that we've made over the past five years or so, with our longest established depots making a substantial contribution to the share gains that we've made over this period. We delivered an industry-leading gross margin with gross profit up on last year, and we balanced recovery of cost rises with our commitment to providing competitive pricing for our customers. Reported profit was 5% ahead of last year, increasing at a higher rate than sales. We progressed our strategic initiatives for the UK and total sales of our international operations increased significantly. At the year end, we had a total of 970 depots trading, including 891 in the UK. The business delivered strong operating cash flow and we maintained a robust balance sheet. This gives us flexibility to continue to invest in our growth plans for the business and provide shareholders with an increased total dividend for the year. For 2026, we've also announced today a n...