Building materials and DIY group Grafton has said that trading conditions remained "favourable" in the four months to the end of October on the back of increased demand in Ireland and the UK.
In an interim management statement, Grafton said that revenue for the ten months to October rose by 10.1% to £1.76 billion compared to £1.6 billion the same time last year.
Revenues from its merchanting business in Ireland rose by over 6%, while its UK merchanting revenues rose by 10% and its Belgian revenues soared by 52.2%.
Its retailing revenues for the ten month period fell by 4.7%, while its manufacturing revenues grew by 22.7%.
The company said that the pace of growth moderated somewhat - as anticipated - in the fourth months to October after strong growth in the first half of the year.
Grafton noted that demand in the DIY business in Ireland continued to be subdued by pressure on household budgets.
It added that improvements in the merchanting business in Ireland were due mainly to a recovery from a very low base in demand in the residential repair, maintenance and improvement market and a "tentative recovery in house building".
Grafton's chief executive Gavin Slark said that, as expected, the growth in the UK market continued to moderate from the first half of the year and the Irish merchanting business is showing a marked improvement from a very low base.
"The overall outlook continues to be positive and the group remains on course to report full year operating profits in line with its expectations," he added.
