Grafton Group, the owner of building materials and DIY chains like Chadwicks and Woodie's, said it saw only a marginal rise in daily revenues in the lead up to Christmas.
In a trading update for the period from November 1 to December 31, Grafton said that a robust performance in Iberia along with modest growth in Ireland was fully offset by weaker trading in Northern Europe and the UK.
But Grafton Group said for all of 2025, daily revenues were 1.7% higher. Group revenue for the year was £2.52 billion, up 10.4% from the prior year's figure of £2.28 billion.
The company said the growth included the positive impact of the specialist Spanish HVAC distributor, Salvador Escoda, which was acquired at the end of October 2024, as well as seven months of trading after the acquisition of HSS Hire Ireland.
Breaking down its divisions, Grafton said its island of Ireland businesses delivered average daily like-for-like revenue growth of 3.5% for the year, with growth of 0.6% recorded in the last two months of the year.
It said that trading in the final two months reflected continued momentum in Woodie's after another strong Christmas campaign. But his was partly offset by weaker trading in Chadwicks, largely due to the timing of jobsite shutdowns over the Christmas period, it added.
Grafton said that average daily like-for-like revenue increased in Great Britain by 0.4% for the year but declined by 0.2% in November and December - mainly due to ongoing weakness in the RMI market which continued to be impacted by negative consumer sentiment around the November budget.
Meanwhile, Grafton said its average daily like-for-like revenue in Northern Europe declined by 0.5% for the year and was down 2.9% for the last two months of 2025. It said that modest growth in the Netherlands, driven by strong project related sales, was more than offset by declines in Finland which reflected unusually mild winter weather and ongoing weakness in the economy.
In its Iberia division, Grafton said that Salvador Escoda's average daily like-for-like revenue was 6.1%t higher for the full year while growth of 4.4% was delivered in the two month period under review. The business closed the year strongly, buoyed by robust end of season sales campaigns in what is usually a less significant seasonal period, Grafton added.
Looking ahead, Grafton said although momentum continued to moderate across the second half of the year, its outlook remains favourable, supported by structural growth drivers, strong market positions across all regions, the recovery potential in Great Britain and Northern Europe, a robust balance sheet, and a healthy acquisitions pipeline.
Eric Born, chief executive of Grafton Group, said that despite continuing headwinds in some of our markets, the group delivered a solid performance in Q4 and an outcome in line with expectations for the full year.
"It reflects the strong market positions, resilience and agility of our operations across our geographies. Continuing strong performances and market opportunities in Ireland and Iberia, together with market recovery opportunities in Great Britain and Northern Europe leaves Grafton well placed to benefit significantly as conditions normalise," the CEO said.
"Building on our existing market positions, we see exciting opportunities to further strengthen our business and to deliver organic and inorganic growth," he added.
