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Lords Group Trading PLC on Tuesday said it expects to report top-line growth despite a ‘subdued’ climate in its full-year results. Lords shares, in response, climbed 14% to 26.17 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London. The London-headquartered building materials distributor said group revenue for 2025 increased by 8.3% to £473 million from £437 million the year before, representing a 0.7% like-for-like rise. Merchanting revenue rose 6.0%, or 3.1% on an LFL basis, to £227 million, while Plumbing & Heating revenue decreased by 1.6% LFL to a ‘resilient’ £220 million from £222 million. This was despite the construction repairs, maintenance & improvement market remaining ‘subdued’ throughout the year, including some customer deferral due to ‘pre-Budget uncertainty’. Lords also reported a 57% jump in renewables revenue. Meanwhile in Digital, its recent acquisition, online-only builders’ merchant CMO, was ‘not immune to the subdued construction market’ but ‘was profitable in the second half’ with revenue of £26 million since the takeover in June. ‘We...are excited by the opportunity CMO provides to leverage off our branch network and supply chain relationships,’ commented Chief Executive Officer Shanker Patel. ‘It is a unique offering in the Construction market, and with support, it has the potential to deliver significant growth.’ Lords additionally said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be in line with the market consensus. Lords said the current 2025 analyst consensus is for revenue of £480 million, and adjusted Ebitda of between £20.1 million and £20.4 million. Net debt was down 55% on-year to £14.5 million at December 31, with facility headroom of £60.5 million. Going forward, Lords said that it is benefitting from increasing momentum in renewables and the Digital division, and continues to focus on cost management, increased efficiency and ‘pragmatically supporting strategic initiatives to drive growth’. Lords added that it remains confident in its strong positioning for the medium-term future. Patel added: ‘We remain focused on controlling our costs and improving working capital...Whilst the market remains subdued entering 2026, we believe the group is well positioned to benefit from operational leverage as volumes improve, complemented by selective organic and acquisitive initiatives.’ Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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