Grafton up as June better than expected

Shares in FTSE 250 construction supplies firm Grafton Group (LON:GFTU) climbed by 4.77% to 670.50p (as of 15:15 BST) despite the firm reporting a 19.4% drop in sales for the half year ended 30th June due to the impact of COVID-19. Trading during June was ahead of the same month a year before and down just 1.1% on a like-for-like basis. Financial guidance for 2020 remains suspended due to continuing uncertainties.

CEO Gavin Slark commented: “I would like to express our gratitude to all of our colleagues for their continued commitment to the business and for providing a safe environment for each other and our customers. While we face many challenges in the months ahead, we are encouraged by the Group’s trading and financial performance in the month of June which represented an important milestone on the road to recovery. Grafton is in a strong financial position and our resilient portfolio of market leading businesses is emerging stronger from this crisis and remains well positioned for future growth“.