Half year sales down for James Latham
Timber merchants James Latham, which has a branch in Dudley serving the West Midlands, has seen sales fall in its latest half year.
In the six months to the end of September revenue was down 14.8 per cent at £107 million on the same period last year.
For the second quarter of the year it was up 5.3 per cent highlighting the strong recovery from the first quarter which was significantly impacted by the first coronavirus lockdown.
Month on month trends continue to improve with September being ahead of the same month last year.
The group has seen strong volume growth in both delivered and direct commodity panel products.
It said all of its sites have coped very well with the local lockdowns and all the other challenges that they have faced.
Pre-tax profit for the half year was £6.3m compared with £8.3m last year.
The second half of 2020-2021 has started strongly with margins slightly ahead of the previous period.
James Latham is seeing significant increased volumes of commodity products, but reduced volumes of some of its added value panel products which predominantly go into market sectors that have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, such as hospitality, exhibitions and shopfitting.
The group has been working for some time in preparation for Brexit with the supply chain team working closely with suppliers and intermediaries to identify the best routes to market. It has increased stock levels of those products most at risk of disruption.
