Ibstock says overall 2024 volumes will be lower than expected

Ongoing falling demand in the new build housing sector saw profit and revenue at brickmaker Ibstock slip in the first six months of the year.

The firm, which has closed two brick factories under a restructuring, said pre-tax profit dropped 60% to 拢12m in the six months to June on turnover down 20% to 拢178m.

Chief executive Joe Hudson said it was scaling back production at some of its factories in the wake of the continuing slowdown with volumes also hit by wet weather in the first few months of the year.

ibstock site

Demand for bricks continues to be down in the wake of the housing slowdown

He added: 鈥淲ith overall market demand during the first half of 2024 having been around 10% below the prior year period, we now anticipate a modest reduction in full year 2024 market volumes compared to the prior year.

鈥淚n light of the weaker volume backdrop, the group has taken additional temporary action to flex down the output at other factories, delivering further cost savings.鈥�

In a note, broker Investec said: 鈥淢anagement remain cautious for the rest of 2024 and now expect volume to be modestly lower rather than flat, with EBITDA in H2 flat year on year which implies a c.5% cut to FY24 consensus.鈥�

Ibstock said it spent 拢3.2m on restructuring costs associated with the factory closures in the first half and said the overall figure for the year would be around 拢5m.

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