Sales on the decline

Last year the Irish Grafton Group, which has building materials and DIY trade interests in Britain and Ireland, recorded sales of around € 1.98 bn, which is 26 per cent down on 2008. The group’s DIY sales fell by 18 per cent in both the first and second half of the year. Seen in like-for-like terms, sales in Britain, where the group achieves more than two-thirds of its turnover, were seven per cent down in the second half; this compares with a drop of 18 per cent in the first six months. In Ireland the decline narrowed from -37 per cent in the first half-year to -32 per cent in the second.