UK's Howden Joinery's interim profit growth bolsters shares

By Raechel Thankam Job

(Reuters) -Kitchen and interior fittings supplier Howden Joinery reported a 4.4% rise in first-half profit on Thursday, helped by price hikes and market share gains, sending the British company's shares up by more than 10%.

The British company, which relies on home repairs, maintenance and improvements, has been expanding its business and products to attract customers amid subdued consumer confidence and cooling housing demand in a slowing UK economy.

Shares in Howden rose 11.7% to 934 pence by 1007 GMT, topping Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index.  

Howden, which sells its products to trade customers through a network of depots, plans to open around 25 new depots and refurbish around 60 older ones in its core UK market, which accounts for over 96% of group revenue.

Newly appointed CFO Jackie Callaway said the boost from price increases to revenue is expected to increase through the rest of the year.

"We implemented a price increase at the start of the year, and the impact of this was around 1% in the first half. And we expect that increase to build through the balance of the year," she said on a call with analysts.

The company said it was on track to meet its outlook for 2025, with performance at the start of the second half of the year in line with expectations.

"Given the prevailing macroeconomic environment, we expect market conditions to remain challenging and anticipate that the total kitchen market may well contract again this year, but less so than last year," CEO Andrew Livingston said.

Jefferies analysts said that while the reiteration of 2025 guidance was expected, "investors are likely to gain confidence this is achievable or perhaps even conservative" after the results.

The company's pre-tax profit stood at 117 million pounds ($158.69 million) for the six months through June 2025.

($1 = 0.7373 pounds)

(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Louise Heavens and Ed Osmond)