Grafton's report covering the six months ended 30 June 2026 indicates that the Group remains on track to deliver the projected full year adjusted operating profit of £190-£200 million.
The Group have announced that the first half adjusted operating profit increased by 8.2% to £98.5m (H1 2025: £91.0 million), which was supported by strong underlying trading and acquisitions in Iberia and Ireland.
Looking ahead, Grafton expects second-half trading conditions to remain broadly consistent with the first half.
Iberia and the Republic of Ireland continue to benefit from favourable trading environments, supported by attractive underlying demand fundamentals. However, with average daily like-for-like revenue in Great Britain decreasing by 5.1% in the first half, Grafton expects the region to remain challenging, with market conditions broadly consistent with the first half.
In regard to the UK construction markets, Grafton put the challenging conditions down to the affordability pressures that are constraining new build housing activity, higher financing costs and site viability concerns, and a subdued demand for discretionary home improvement projects.
Despite the challenging market conditions in certain regions, Grafton are satisfied that its businesses are well positioned to win the recovery, and to invest in organic growth opportunities, pursue value-enhancing acquisitions and return capital to shareholders.
The report highlights that the key growth drivers include structural housing undersupply across all its markets and an anticipated recovery in repair, maintenance and improvement demand after an extended period of restrained consumer spending.
Grafton's Board has declared an interim dividend of 11.00 pence per share, an increase of 2.3% on last year's interim dividend of 10.75 pence.
Eric Born, Chief Executive Officer of Grafton Group plc, said: "Despite a relatively slow start to the year, we are pleased to have grown revenue, adjusted operating profit and margin in the first half of 2026, and to be in a position to reaffirm that we remain on track to deliver full year adjusted operating profit of £190-£200 million, while recognising the important autumn trading season is still to come.
"Our outlook for the second half is not dissimilar to H1, with Iberia and Ireland strong, Northern Europe mixed, and continuing weakness in Great Britain. Our medium-term outlook remains very positive supported by structural housing deficits in each of our markets and, in many cases, pent up demand for RMI.
"We remain well positioned to achieve our medium-term growth and strategic ambitions out to 2030 as set out in our recent Capital Markets Event. Our first half result underpins the rationale of exposure to diverse markets and of investment through the cycle to support sustainable growth across geographies whose economies are operating at different speeds."
