Firm blames severe weather conditions at beginning of year for weak maintenance and improvements performance

Rok has issued a profit warning on the back of a weak performance by its maintenance and improvements division.

In a trading update this morning, the firm blamed poor trading on the severe weather conditions at the beginning of the year.

It said: 鈥淥ur expectation at the time was that these conditions would result in a backlog of work, so that the impact would largely be one of timing. This has so far been the case and the backlog is being progressively reduced. The recovery process is taking time and there will therefore be an impact on profits for the first half of the year.鈥�

In a separate move the 拢715m-turnover company has shaken up its plumbing, heating and electrical arm, which it said has been 鈥渢rading below expectations鈥�.

The company has terminated what it called 鈥渁 number of under-performing contracts鈥�.

Rok said its other divisions, including social housing and construction, were performing in line with expectations.

In construction, it said it was being more selective with the jobs it took on in order to bolster its margins.

The statement added: 鈥淥ur total forward revenue expectations under secured orders and long term framework agreements currently stand at 拢2bn giving good visibility for the remainder of the year and beyond. Secured and visible revenues for the current year are now 91% of consensus forecast revenue.鈥�

Its shares dropped 8% to 35.5p in early trading this morning.

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