REG - Lords Group Trading - AGM Statement

Lords TradingAnnouncement

20/06/2025 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20250620:nRST6674Na&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 6674N  Lords Group Trading PLC  20 June 2025

20 June 2025

 

Lords Group Trading plc

('Lords', the Company' or the 'Group')

 

AGM Statement

 

Lords, a leading distributor of building materials in the UK, announces that
at the Company's Annual General Meeting ('AGM') due to be held today at 1:00
pm (BST) at the offices of Cavendish, 1 Bartholomew Close, London, EC1A 7BL,
Gary O'Brien, the Group's Independent Non-Executive Chairman, will make the
following statement:

 

"Since our FY24 annual results announcement on 8 May 2025, trading has
continued in line with management expectations.  In Plumbing & Heating,
as previously communicated, boiler volumes were pulled forward into the first
quarter of the current year prior to industry-wide price increases which were
implemented in April 2025 - with volumes in the two months since being
resultantly lower.

 

"Merchanting volumes, which were 11% ahead in the first quarter, continue to
trend positively against the prior year despite market conditions remaining
challenging and new branch openings at Bicester, Maidstone and Mansfield, are
contributing more strongly than had been anticipated during their start-up
phase.

 

"On 6 June 2025, we acquired the trade and assets of CMO Group Limited
('CMO'), the UK's largest online-only retailer of construction products. The
acquisition brings together Lords' infrastructure and merchanting expertise
with CMO's digital-first online model and accelerates the Group's digital
offering to the construction materials and plumbing & heating markets.

 

"The Group continues to focus on growth, margin accretion and cost control.
Three branch openings, two strategic acquisitions since October 2024, and a
significantly stronger balance sheet after the property sale & leaseback
announced in April 2025, have positioned the Group well for any sustained
improvement in the RMI market.  The recent addition of nine online CMO
Superstores broadens our offering to customers whilst maintaining our focus on
excellent customer service.  Performance to date has been as expected and,
although the seasonally significant trading period lies ahead, the Board is
confident that the Group is on track to meet its expectations for FY25."

 

- Ends -

 

For further enquiries:

 

 Lords Group Trading plc                                            Via Burson Buchanan
 Shanker Patel, Chief Executive Officer                             Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
 Stuart Kilpatrick, Chief Financial Officer

 Cavendish (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)                     Tel: +44 (0)20 7220 0500
 Ben Jeynes / Hamish Waller (Corporate Finance)
 Julian Morse / Henry Nicol / Matt Lewis (Sales/Corporate Broking)

 Berenberg (Joint Broker)                                           Tel: +44 (0)20 3207 7800

 Matthew Armitt / Harry Nicholas / Detlir Elezi

                                                                    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000

 Burson Buchanan
 Henry Harrison-Topham / Steph Whitmore / Abby Gilchrist            LGT@buchanan.uk.com (mailto:LGT@buchanan.uk.com)

Notes to editors:

 

Lords is a specialist distributor of building, plumbing, heating and DIY
goods. The Group principally sells to local tradesmen, small to medium sized
plumbing and heating merchants, construction companies and retails directly to
the general public.

 

The Group operates through the following two divisions:

 

Merchanting: supplies building materials and DIY goods through its network of
merchant businesses and online platform capabilities. It operates both in the
'light side' (building materials and timber) and 'heavy side' (civils and
landscaping), through 32 locations in the UK.

 

Plumbing and Heating: a specialist distributor in the UK of plumbing and
heating products to a UK network of independent merchants, installers and the
general public. The division offers its customers an attractive proposition
through a multi-channel offering.  The division operates in over 16 locations
enabling nationwide next-day delivery service.

 

Lords was established over 40 years ago as a family business with its first
retail unit in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.  Since then, the Group has
grown into a business operating from 50 sites.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  AGMPKCBPCBKDNAD