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Howden Joinery Group PLC on Thursday set out plans for a share buyback worth £100 million and increased its cash dividend slightly, as it reported flat results in 2024 amid ‘challenging’ conditions for the UK kitchen market. The London-based company sells kitchens and joinery products to trade customers, primarily local builders, through 869 depots in the UK, 65 in France and Belgium, and 13 in Ireland. Its shares were down 6.7% to 782.15 pence midday Thursday in London, the second-worst performer in the FTSE 100 index after WPP PLC. Howden was promoted to the top tier from the FTSE 250 back in September 2023. Howden said the share buyback will be complete over the next 12 months. It did no share buybacks over the past year. The company also edged up its final dividend to 16.3 pence per share from 16.2p a year before. The means a 21.2p total dividend for 2024, up 1.0% from 21.0p in 2023. Its cash pile on December 28 was £343.6 million, up from £282.8 million a year before. Howden said pretax profit was £328.1 million last year, up 0.2% from £327.6 million in 2023, as revenue grew by 0.5% to £2.32 billion from £2.31 billion. Operating profit slipped by 0.3% in 2024 to £339.2 million from £340.2 million. Howden said it faced inflationary pressures on costs, which it expects to continue in 2025, with increases in UK National Insurance contributions and in the national minimum wage contributing to this. Howden said it expects the UK kitchen market to contract further in 2025, but it expects to gain more share of this market. ‘Howdens performed well in a challenging market, gaining further market share,’ said Chief Executive Andrew Livingston. ‘We continued to invest in developing our kitchen and joinery ranges, opening more depots, and in new digital capabilities.’ Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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