Marshalls Revenue Down as Marley Roof Solar Division Slows

MARSHALLS PLC, manufacturer of products for the built environment, reports a revenue drop of 12% this year, including in Marley’s roof solar division.

The company reported revenue of £528m in the 9 months to end of September 2023, compared to £544m in the same period last year.

The revenue decrease is 3% lower than in 2022 and includes the contribution of 4 additional months of revenue from Marshalls’ roof tile division, Marley.

Marley Roof Solar

Marley Roofing Products’ revenue for the period was £138m – a 7% drop on last year’s period.

The rate of contraction was in-line with the performance in the first half of the year.  While there was a moderation of the decline in the traditional roofing business in the business’s third quarter, it was offset by a softer performance from Viridian Solar, due to weakness in the new build market the company says.

Marshalls Building Products’ revenue for the period was £133m (2022: £149m), a reduction of 11% over the prior year.  The rate of contraction in the third quarter increased to 14% compared to 9% reported at the half year.  The rate of revenue decline in the drainage and aggregates businesses moderated in the third quarter; however, this was offset by a slowing in the bricks and mortars businesses, which had been broadly flat in the first half.

Marshalls Landscape Products’ revenue for the period was £257m – 17% down compared to 2022.  On a like-for-like basis, after adjusting for the disposal of Marshalls NV in April 2023, revenues contracted by 15%.  The like-for-like rate of contraction slowed in the third quarter to 8% from the 18% reported at the half year. This was driven by softer prior year comparatives and a seasonal weighting towards commercial products, which have performed better than those sold into the domestic market.

In the third quarter, Group revenue contracted by 9% on a like-for-like basis, which compares to a reduction of 13% in the first half of the year.

Management Actions

As stated in the half year results, management took actions to improve the company’s agility and ‘right-size’ the business by reducing capacity and costs.  Marshalls closed a factory, reduced shifts and capacity in other facilities, and ‘reorganised’ its commercial team to save around £9 million a year.  Disposal of surplus land has generated around £6m in the year to date, and Marshalls is focusing on efficient working capital management to reduce the its net debt.

The company says it “continues to review opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising longer-term capacity flexibility”. It has unused capacity across all its businesses to meet higher demand than currently being experienced.

Outlook

Marshalls does not expect any material changes in current trading patterns during the fourth quarter of the year and is confident of achieving a result in line with its expectations for 2023.

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