United Kingdom
Ten branches close and a window maker reports a first half loss
By Staff Writer | 3 September 2026
A manufacturer and distributor of door and window products to the trade has closed ten branches, started consolidating two recycling plants and taken a 9.6 million pound charge. Sales for the six months rose 6 per cent, and the statutory result moved from a 3.8 million pound profit to a 1.4 million pound loss.
Eurocell reported its results for the six months to 30 June 2026 on the morning of 3 September. Revenue of 205.2 million pounds was 6 per cent above the same period in 2025, and 1 per cent above it once the Alunet business bought in March 2025 is taken out. Adjusted operating profit rose 10 per cent to 11.1 million pounds and adjusted profit before tax rose 5 per cent to 8.2 million pounds.
Below that line the direction reverses. Net non-underlying items of 9.6 million pounds took statutory operating profit down 72 per cent to 1.7 million pounds and produced a loss before tax of 1.4 million pounds, against a profit of 3.8 million pounds a year earlier. Basic earnings per share went from 2.9 pence to a loss of 1.1 pence. The interim dividend was raised 9 per cent to 2.5 pence a share.
What the charge paid for
Most of the 9.6 million pounds is restructuring, 9.4 million pounds of it, and 6.7 million pounds of that is non-cash asset impairment rather than money leaving the business. Ten underperforming branches closed in July, following proposals announced in June, and included consolidation of the branch footprint in the London region. The project to consolidate two recycling plants into one is on track for annualised savings of about 1.5 million pounds from 2027. Other restructuring, including a targeted reduction in headcount, is expected to deliver annualised savings of about 2 million pounds, roughly 1 million pounds of it in the second half of this year. Separately the company acquired ATT Fabrications in September for 5 million pounds, to take the whole margin on its garden room range rather than part of it.
The demand signal underneath the result
For anyone pricing residential work, the divisional split is the part worth reading. Profiles division sales fell 5 per cent, which the company puts down to a harder market for new build housing and reduced repair, maintenance and improvement work through its trade fabricators. Branch Network division sales rose 5 per cent, but general branch sales into the repair, maintenance and improvement market fell 2 per cent, and the growth came from newer sites and newer product lines rather than from the market. Nine sites opened since the last quarter of 2024 added 1.8 million pounds of sales in the half. Windows and doors sales were 17.7 million pounds, up 29 per cent, and online sales 4.4 million pounds, up 49 per cent.
The branch opening programme has been paused. The company has identified further sites and says it will not open them until there is better visibility over the general economic outlook.
Demand in the RMI market remains subdued and conditions in new build housing have become increasingly challenging.
Will Truman, Chief Executive of Eurocell plc
Cash, debt and the caveat on returns
Net cash generated from operating activities was 17.9 million pounds, down 3 per cent, with working capital broadly neutral in both periods. Capital investment was 6.5 million pounds. Net debt before the lease accounting standard stood at 28.1 million pounds, against 22.1 million pounds at the end of December and 29.0 million pounds a year earlier, which the company puts at 0.8 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation measured on the same basis. It intends to continue share buybacks in due course, subject to maintaining a strong financial position and to the effect of the conflict in the Middle East, which its own review names as a source of uncertainty over demand and supply chains.
A half year in which underlying profit rises and the statutory line goes negative is not a contradiction. It is what taking capacity out of a business costs, booked in one period. The narrower point for contractors, specifiers and anyone holding a residential order book is the one the divisional numbers make: a supplier selling into both repair work and new build reports that both are weak, has closed ten of its own outlets in a single month, and has stopped opening any more until it can see further ahead than it can today.