CMO Group PLC on Friday said it struggled in 2023, due to a downturn in the building sector caused by poor weather and economic challenges.

The Plymouth, England based firm is the UK’s largest online-only retailer of building materials.

In 2023, the company swung to a £2.3 million pretax loss after reporting a £200,000 pretax profit the year prior.

Revenue fell 14% to £71.5 million from £83.1 million.

During the year, CMO said it struggled with inflationary pressures as well as higher interest rates that dampened consumer demand.

This was made worse after the UK experienced the wettest 18 months on record, which adversely impacted the domestic construction sector.

Despite these challenges, CMO did report successes in some areas with its Superstores outperforming the market and increasing its share by 10% half-on-half in 2023.

Furthermore, CMO demonstrated strong customer retention with repeat customers accounting for 65% of orders, up from 50% in 2022.

It also improved the cost of carriage by 56% and reduced headcount over the year to match demand, although administrative expenses rose 4.4% to £16.6 million from £15.9 million.

Chair Ken Ford commented: ‘Whilst cost inflation is abating and there are downward movements in interest rates... we are not anticipating rapid economic recovery.

‘The focus remains on successfully navigating the tough market conditions and if needs be making the necessary hard decisions to protect the business and shareholder interests for the future. The actions taken in 2023, we believe, will build a growing, sustainable, profitable business that will thrive when conditions allow.’

CMO shares were down 4.6% to 21.00 pence each in London on Friday morning.

Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.