The Group will maintain its focus on growth, margin accretion and cost control.
Lords, a leading distributor of building materials in the UK, has held its Annual General Meeting.
Gary O’Brien, the Group’s Independent Non-Executive Chairman, said: "Since our FY24 annual results announcement on 8 May 2025, trading has continued in line with management expectations. In Plumbing & Heating, as previously communicated, boiler volumes were pulled forward into the first quarter of the current year prior to industry-wide price increases which were implemented in April 2025 - with volumes in the two months since being resultantly lower.
"Merchanting volumes, which were 11% ahead in the first quarter, continue to trend positively against the prior year despite market conditions remaining challenging and new branch openings at Bicester, Maidstone and Mansfield, are contributing more strongly than had been anticipated during their start-up phase.
“On 6 June 2025, we acquired the trade and assets of CMO Group Limited (‘CMO’), the UK’s largest online-only retailer of construction products. The acquisition brings together Lords’ infrastructure and merchanting expertise with CMO’s digital-first online model and accelerates the Group’s digital offering to the construction materials and plumbing & heating markets.
"The Group continues to focus on growth, margin accretion and cost control. Three branch openings, two strategic acquisitions since October 2024, and a significantly stronger balance sheet after the property sale & leaseback announced in April 2025, have positioned the Group well for any sustained improvement in the RMI market. The recent addition of nine online CMO Superstores broadens our offering to customers whilst maintaining our focus on excellent customer service. Performance to date has been as expected and, although the seasonally significant trading period lies ahead, the Board is confident that the Group is on track to meet its expectations for FY25.”
