Revenue from continuing operations contracted to 2.61bn pounds in the year ended December 31st at building products provider SIG from 2.71bn pounds one year earlier.

The group said that its performance in 2012 was affected by weak construction markets and the second wettest year on record in the UK.

In Mainland Europe, the group's performance was impacted by the weakening euro, which based on average exchange rates, depreciated by 7.0% compared to sterling.

In its final results for the year, the group reported underlying operating profit on continuing operations of £96.5m, down from £98.4m one year earlier.

Underlying profit before tax slid to £84.1m from £84.5m.

The dividend per share increased to 3.0p from 2.25p and the post-tax return on capital employed expanded to 8.6% from 7.9% a year earlier.

The group reported that sales from continuing operations were flat at constant currency and down 3.9% in sterling.

Continued market outperformance of 2.5% was recorded and the gross margin on continuing operations improved by 40bps to 26.1%.

CEO: resilient performance delivered in 2012Commenting on the results, Stuart Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer, said: "SIG delivered a resilient performance in 2012, despite significant headwinds.

"We maintained profitability and met our key objective of increasing ROCE[Return on Caiptal Employed] above the Group's weighted average cost of capital."

Going forward, he said: "Our outlook for 2013 remains unchanged from our trading statement in January. We expect construction markets to remain challenging and likely to decline at a similar rate to 2012.

Against this background, and building on recent performance, SIG expects to make further progress by continuing to focus on sales outperformance, gross margin enhancement and improved operational efficiency."

SIG's share price was up 1.07% to 141.90p at 10:24 on Thursday.

MF

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