Lupus dodges housing woes to raise sales
BUILDING products firm Lupus Capital shrugged off concerns over the state of the US housing market yesterday to reveal first half sales of £133m, up 14 per cent year-on-year.
Shares in Lupus, which manufactures parts for doors and windows, bounced 7.28 per cent to 81p on the news. They had traded at a depressed level of around 74p for a fortnight after falling heavily on poor new home sales data from America, one of Lupus’ key markets.
In a trading update, the company said the effect of weaker new home starts on both sides of the Atlantic had been outbalanced by demand for repair and maintenance work to properties. Lupus said it also managed to pass on the increased cost of materials to its customers and concentrate its UK sales force.
The group added that its oil services arm, which supplies marine breakaway couplings to the exploration industry, was seeing better trading conditions than in 2009.
Last year, Lupus was rocked by a £7.5m charge for breaching its loan covenants, which resulted in the departure of executive chairman Greg Hutchings. Hutchings tried and failed to regain control of the business twice. Lupus crashed to a £650,000 loss for the year.
Finance boss James Brotherton said the firm was well positioned despite ongoing hikes in raw materials prices.