Howden sees sales of its kitchens serve up profit
BRITISH kitchen supplier Howden Joinery said it was confident of winning more market share in 2011 as its business model focused on small builders makes the best of a tough market.
The firm, which supplies kitchen units to over 200,000 small builders from 489 UK depots, beat forecasts with a 47 per cent rise in 2010 profit. It said current trading was robust and outlined a plan to resume dividends in the current year, disappointing those who had hoped for a payout on last year’s profit.
“The market, the way it’s shaping in its complexity with peoples’ requirements for a working kitchen, is moving our way,” chief executive Matthew Ingle, who founded Howden Joinery in 1995, said. “Are we immune from a downturn? No we are not, but we have access to more of the markets doing it our way than I think perhaps people are aware of,” he added.