Hanson suffers subdued first half

Hanson caught a cold in the UK in the first half of this year as a "subdued market" led to drops in both turnover and operating profit.

Hanson's UK turnover fell 3.1% from £574.9m to £551.1m, while operating profit after a £8m pensions hit fell from £60.1m to £43.7m.

The aggregates division's sales were down 5.9% to £394.4m, while operating profit dropped from £37.7m to £24.8m. Hanson chief executive Alan Murray said pricing continues to move ahead in major product areas by 1% to 4%, but volumes are weaker, "in particular asphalt, down 10.1%". Infrastructure demand from both central and local government has been poor, while commercial and industrial development remains subdued.

The building product's division was affected by lower brick volumes and higher input costs. Although turnover actually increased from £155.9m to £156.7m, operating profit fell from £22.4m to £18.9m. Brick sales were 7.8% lower, "reflecting limited availability of extruded product and new build activity currently favouring apartments rather than houses".

At a group level, strong performances from Hanson's US and Australian businesses were not enough to offset the poor UK performance: total turnover was down from £1.9bn to £1.8bn.