Merchants buying group Unimer plc described its turnover increase as “oustanding”.
Managing director Howard Grant said that the 4.2% rise in turnover to £769m in the year to the end of April was “excellent” given that it was achieved in “one of its most difficult and challenging trading periods faced by the building materials market”.
“Unimer has achieved that growth when most businesses in the sector have gone backwards and had to retrench and focus on survival,” he said.
In the same period, he added, Unimer’s total number of transactions rose 8.1% and the company had continued with cost and bad debt reduction programmes. At the same time, it had been “understanding when merchant members’ cash flows have been challenged”.
Mr Grant said the new financial year had started strongly for the company.
Unimer’s highest annual sales, achieved in 2008, were £855m.
