Breedon Aggregates announced unaudited results on 21 July for the six months up to 30 June 2016.

Group revenue for the half-year of £163.0 million was 2% ahead of the comparable period in 2015. Underlying earnings before interest (EBIT) and tax increased by 21% to £22.8 million and the underlying EBIT margin, reportedly the company’s principal performance measure, increased to 14% from 11.8% in 2015.

Peter Tom CBE, executive chairman, said: “Whatever the prognosis for the UK economy, we remain confident that we can continue to generate value for our shareholders. We have some major contracts, which will help to underpin our performance during a period of uncertainty, along with a strong balance sheet and a record of strong cash generation in challenging markets. We have also demonstrated our ability to deliver a strong performance through determined self-help and we will maintain this discipline irrespective of market conditions.

“The strategic rationale of the acquisition of Hope remains compelling and it will present new opportunities to deliver self-help improvements. It will also give us an even stronger platform for growth through a broader geographical footprint, increased scale, improved product mix, greater financial capacity and some highly talented people. We fully intend to use this strengthened platform to continue to pursue our strategy of consolidating the UK building materials market. Indeed, we believe that market uncertainty may create further opportunities for value-creating acquisitions and we are currently considering a number of potential bolt-ons. Against this background we remain confident of meeting 2016 market expectations.”