Lords Group PLC on Tuesday said it expects earnings to fall in its 2024 results, spurred on by weak fourth-quarter trading in its Plumbing & Heating division.

The London-based distributor of building materials said it expects to report revenue of £436 million for 2024, falling 6.0% from £463 million the year before.

Lords Group also expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be ‘slightly below’ a company-compiled market consensus of between £23.0 million and £23.8 million.

This would have been, at worst, a 15% decline from £26.8 million last year.

Its Merchanting division delivered like-for-like revenue in the fourth quarter around 11% higher on-year, with divisional revenue for the year expected to come in at £214 million, in line with the £214.9 million reported for the prior year.

The group’s Plumbing & Heating arm, however, experienced ‘weaker market conditions’ in the fourth quarter. It expects full-year revenue within the division to fall 11% to £222 million from £247.7 million last year.

Chief Executive Officer Shanker Patel said: ‘In a challenging year across our end markets, the fundamentals of our business in customer service excellence, highly engaged colleagues and specialist brands have underpinned a resilient performance in 2024. We are particularly pleased to see Merchanting’s strong relative performance in the final quarter.

‘We continue to tightly control costs and to optimise working capital. Net debt was reduced by £4.1 million in the second half. As market conditions begin to improve, we are confident that the group is exceptionally well positioned for operational leverage to improve profitability, with ongoing organic and acquisitive growth.’

Shares in Lords Group were up 1.0% at 30.90 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

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