SUMMARY OF GROUP RESULTS¹

1 The information presented relates to the 24 weeks to 16 June 2018 and the 24 weeks to 10 June 2017.

Chief Executive, Andrew Livingston, said:

"Since joining Howdens in January, I have been impressed with the outstanding and differentiated service we give to our builder customers. We delivered a solid performance in the first half, as we press ahead in a competitive market.

"Our leading service proposition is supported by the unique combination of locally empowered depots and strong supply operations. In the first half, our supply chain enabled us to bring twelve new kitchen ranges to the market, as well as a new grey oak cabinet, thin laminate worktops and a new range of doors. Our investment programme in manufacturing, distribution, depot rollout and IT remains on track.

"Howdens is in good shape with opportunities ahead of us, as we develop our product offering, bring even more convenience to the building trade and generate further operational efficiencies across the business."

Financial highlights¹:

• Howden Joinery UK depot revenue grew by 12.1% to £604.7m (2017: £539.5m), and up 10.7% on a same depot basis². Group revenue was £619.4m (2017: £553.0m);
• Gross profit margin of 61.3% (2017: 64.1%), reflecting sales initiatives and increases in costs of goods sold;
• Operating profit of £69.6m (2017: £66.6m), due to strong sales growth ahead of reduced gross margin;
• Profit before tax of £68.8m (2017: £65.6m);
• Basic earnings per share of 8.9p (2017: 8.4p);
• £38.3m returned to shareholders by 16 June 2018 through our share buyback programmes;
• Net cash of £213.3m at 16 June 2018 (30 December 2017: £241.1m net cash; 10 June 2017: £215.1m net cash);
• Interim dividend of 3.7p per share (2017: 3.6p).

1 The information presented here relates to the 24 weeks to 16 June 2018 and the 24 weeks to 10 June 2017, unless otherwise stated.
2 This excludes depots opened in 2017 and 2018.

Business developments:

• Seven new UK depots opened in H1 2018 bringing total to 668;
• 12 new kitchen ranges introduced in H1 2018;
• New distribution centre at Raunds ready for Period 11 trading;
• Capital expenditure of £17.1m (2017: £22.0m).

Current trading and outlook:

• Howden Joinery UK depot revenue increased by 5.3% in the first four week period (Period 7) of the second half of the year (to 14 July 2018);
• Our overall expectations for the full year are unchanged.

Enquiries

Investors/analysts:

Paul Sharma
Head of Investor Relations + 44 (0) 20 7535 1164/+44 (0) 7585 992943

Media:

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Simon Rigby + 44 (0) 20 7282 2847/Kevin Smith +44 (0) 20 7282 1054

Note to editors:

Howden Joinery Group Plc is the parent company of Howden Joinery (Howdens). In the UK, Howdens is engaged in the sale of kitchens and joinery products to trade customers, primarily small local builders, through approximately 670 depots. Around one-third of the products it sells are manufactured in the company's own factories in Runcorn, Cheshire, and Howden, East Yorkshire. The business operates in France and has trials in Belgium, Holland and Germany.

There will be a live audio webcast at 9am BST, 26 July 2018. For details and more information, please see: www.howdenjoinerygroupplc.com

FINANCIAL REVIEW

FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR FIRST HALF OF 2018¹

REVENUE

1 The information presented below relates to the 24 weeks to 16 June 2018 and the 24 weeks to 10 June 2017, unless otherwise stated.

Total group revenue increased to £619.4m (2017: £553.0m). Howden Joinery UK depot revenue rose by 12.1% to £604.7m (2017: £539.5). UK revenue increased by 10.7% on a same depot basis to £596.1m in 2018 (2017: £538.4m). This excludes the additional revenue from depots opened in 2017 and 2018 of £8.7m in 2018 (2017: £1.0m).

Depot revenue in Continental Europe was £14.7m (2017: £13.5m). On a local currency basis, sales at our French depots increased by 5.5% in Euros, and by the same amount on a same depot basis, as there were no new depots opened in 2017 or 2018.

GROSS PROFIT
Our gross profit increased to £379.5m (2017: £354.6m). The gross profit margin of 61.3% (2017: 64.1%) was impacted by lower prices after Q1 2017 as a result of giving depots more flexibility in margin. While we did not increase prices at the beginning of this year, we did implement an increase at the start of April 2018.

OPERATING PROFIT
Selling and distribution costs, and administrative expenses (SD&A) increased to £309.9m (2017: £288.0m). We saw expected cost increase due to continued investments in areas across the business including new depots, digital upgrades, the effects of moving from our older distribution centre to Raunds and additional depreciation. We also saw the impact of inflation in our cost base.

As a result of our increased gross profit and expected rise in operating costs, our operating profit rose to £69.6m (2017: £66.6m).

PROFIT BEFORE AND AFTER TAX
We had a net interest charge of £0.8m due mainly to pension costs (2017: £1.0m). Profit before tax was £68.8m (2017: £65.6m).

The tax charge on profit before tax was £14.3m (2017: £13.5m), representing an effective rate of tax of 20.8% in line with the previous year (2017: 20.6%).

As a result, profit after tax was £54.5m (2017: £52.1m). Reflecting the above and the reduced share count following share repurchases, basic earnings per share was 8.9p (2017: 8.4p).

PENSIONS
At 16 June 2018, the pension deficit shown on the balance sheet was £46.6m (30 December 2017: £109.3m). The decrease in the deficit was due primarily to actuarial gains of £59.3m, arising mainly from an increase in the discount rate and employer contributions of £14.7m.

In July 2015, we announced that an agreement had been reached with the Trustees in relation to the schedule of payments towards the funding of the Group's defined benefit pension scheme's deficit from April 2015. It was agreed that the Group would continue to make deficit contributions equivalent to £35m per annum until 30 June 2017. It was also agreed that the Group would make an 'interim' payment of £25m over the period July 2017 to June 2018.

On 28 June 2018, we announced that, following the triennial actuarial valuation of the scheme as at 5 April 2017, we had reached agreement with the Trustees of the defined benefit pension scheme in relation to the schedule of payments required to fund the scheme deficit. We will make annual deficit contributions of £30m per annum for up to five years until June 2023.

The funding position will be monitored on an ongoing basis, and deficit contributions will be suspended should the scheme's funding position improve to at least 100 percent of the scheme's funding basis for two consecutive months and resumed if the funding position subsequently falls back below 100 percent.

The agreement will result in a contribution to the pension deficit in the current financial year ending 29 December 2018 of £27.5m.

SHARE REPURCHASE
In February 2017, we announced an £80m share repurchase programme, of which we had £32.1m remaining at the start of 2018. In March 2018, we announced a further share buyback programme of £60m to be completed during the next two years.

The Group has acquired 7.8m shares, to 16 June 2018, for a consideration of £38.3m. We have completed the February 2017 share repurchase programme and have £53.9m of the March 2018 programme remaining.

CASH
There was a net cash inflow from operating activities of £26.4m (2017: £20.3m). This was after a cash contribution to the Group's pension schemes, in excess of the operating charge, of £4.5m.

Working capital increased by £33.4m, reflecting typical seasonality of sales (2017: £31.2m). Debtors at the end of the period were £51.1m higher than at the beginning of the period and stock levels increased by £14.5m, due mainly to the introduction of new product ranges, more depots and the move to our new distribution centre at Raunds. Creditors increased by £32.2m, which included the 2017 final dividend of 7.5p. We paid tax totalling £21.1m (2017: £20.0m).

Payments to acquire fixed and intangible assets totalled £17.1m (2017: £22.0m), in line with our expectations for the full year.

Reflecting the above, there was a £27.8m net cash outflow in the first half of the year (2017: £11.5m), the Group having net cash at the end of the period of £213.3m (30 December 2017: £241.1m net cash; 10 June 2017: £215.1m net cash).

DIVIDEND
It is the Group's policy to pay an interim dividend equal to one third of the previous year's full dividend. Reflecting this, the Board has approved the payment of an interim dividend of 3.7p per share (2017: 3.6p) which will be paid on 23 November 2018 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 25 October 2018.

OPERATIONAL REVIEW

We invest in all aspects of the growth and performance of the business, including new depots and depot operations, new and existing employees, product development, and manufacturing and distribution. We see the opportunity to increase the scale of the business, with scope for up to 800 depots in the UK and are looking to expand into Northern Ireland.

UK DEPOT NETWORK AND OPERATIONS
We have opened seven new depots in the UK so far this year, taking the total to 668 at the end of H1 2018. A number of other depots are at various stages of the acquisition/shopfitting process and we continue to expect to open around 30 new depots this year.

Our account base increased by around 7,000, standing at approximately 470,000 at the end of H1 2018. Our debt collection performance continues to be robust and closely monitored.

PRODUCT AND MARKETING
We introduced 12 new kitchen ranges in H1 2018. New product initiatives and launches during the period included:

• six Shaker style kitchens across all price points of our Allendale, Fairford and Tewkesbury families. We have also introduced the Chelford family into the Shaker range, a style which is becoming increasingly popular;
• four new super matt and graphite ranges in our Greenwich and Clerkenwell families;
• a new grey oak cabinet;
• four thin laminate worktops and an extension of our quartz worktop range;
• a new range of prefinished moulded and oak doors, which saves time for the builder; and
• an expansion of our fire door range and fire-rated hardware packs.

We had 64 ranges on offer at our depots at the end of H1 2018.

We also continue to enhance the marketing of our products and services, enabling our builder customers and their customers to see the full breadth and depth of the Howdens offer. Having published a separate Trade Book for our customers for the first time in 2017, alongside a kitchen brochure, we continue to adapt and improve both of these publications and a new Trade Book is due to be published in the second half of this year.

During H2 2018, we expect to bring a further six new ranges to market, including the launch of linear style kitchens, which will bring our total kitchen range introductions to 18 for the year.

We optimise our business model continually and are conducting a review of our kitchen ranges, depot layout, stock levels and other product ranges, as we look to see how we can best enhance the offer to our builder customers and create operational efficiencies within the business.

We are developing a new platform for our website, as we continue to enhance our digital capability.

MANUFACTURING AND LOGISTICS
Our UK-based manufacturing and logistics operations are vital in enabling us to supply our small builder customers from local stock nationwide at all times. This requires us to have the scale, space and flexibility to respond to each depot's individual needs, especially during our crucial Period 11 - when sales are more than double the level in other periods.

During H1 2018 a number of the investment projects progressed as follows.

• Manufacturing operations
  
  We have continued to ramp up our new cabinet production facilities at our Howden and Runcorn sites.

• Logistics
  
  During H1 2018, we completed the transition from our national distribution centre (NDC) to a new 650,000 sq ft facility at Raunds. Raunds is now being utilised for depot delivery, while our older NDC is being used for bulk storage.
  
  We have received full planning permission for a further two distribution facilities at Raunds totaling 950,000 sq ft, which we expect to become operational during 2020. This will enable us to exit our NDC at Northampton during 2020/2021, while providing Howdens with a strategic replacement asset. We do not expect to incur any major capital expenditure on the new facilities until 2019. We have begun ground works on both facilities during the first half.

• Information systems
  
  We have upgraded our kitchen CAD planning software in our depots with faster, higher quality picture rendering for our customers. We have launched a new depot intranet, providing enhanced product information and richer content, to help staff with customer queries.
  
  We also continue to implement our SAP strategy and are on track to migrate all our SAP systems to HANA technology by the end of 2018.

CONTINENTAL EUROPE
We have 20 depots in France, one in each of Germany and The Netherlands, and two in Belgium. Revenue growth in France increased by 5.5% and our nascent operations in the other regions are enabling us to gain a greater understanding of each local market.

CEO RETIREMENT AND APPOINTMENT
On 7 July 2017, it was announced that Howdens' founder and CEO, Matthew Ingle, had decided to retire in the first half of 2018 after 23 years with the Group, to be succeeded by Andrew Livingston, previously CEO of Screwfix Direct Ltd.

Following a successful transition period, Andrew Livingston was appointed CEO on 2 April 2018 and Matthew Ingle retired from the Board. Matthew retires from the business on 1 August 2018.

CURRENT TRADING AND OUTLOOK

In the first four week period of the second half of the year (Period 7, to 14 July 2018), total sales at Howdens Joinery UK depots rose by 5.3% on the same period in 2017.

During the course of 2018, we plan to open around 30 depots in the UK, seven already having been opened during H1 2018. We expect the cost impact of new depots in 2018 to increase compared to 2017, as we opened 19 in 2017.

In addition to costs including new depots and inflationary pressures, during FY 2018 we continue to expect further operating costs of around £20m from ongoing investments in areas across the business including digital upgrades, the effects of moving from our older distribution centre to Raunds and additional depreciation.

We also expect inflationary pressures on the costs of goods sold to continue.

Investment in new depots, manufacturing and digital upgrades, plus some expenditure initially planned for 2017, will result in expected capital expenditure of around £60m in 2018.

We note the tougher sales comparatives from the prior year as the year progresses and remain watchful of market conditions.

Our overall expectations for the full year are unchanged.

GOING CONCERN

The Group meets its day-to-day working capital requirements through cash generated from operations. If required, the Group also has access to an asset-backed lending facility of £140m which expires in July 2019.

The Group's forecasts and projections have been stress-tested for reasonably possible adverse variations in economic conditions and trading performance. The results of this testing show that the Group should be able to operate within the level of its current net cash balances and its committed bank facility, and that it would not breach the facility covenants.

After making due enquiries, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

RELATED PARTIES

Related Party transactions are disclosed in Note 12 to the condensed set of financial statements. There have been no material changes to the related party transactions described in the last Annual Report & Accounts.

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The principal risks and uncertainties that could have a material impact on the Group's performance over the remaining 28 weeks of the financial year have not changed from those which are set out in detail on pages 30 to 32 of the Group's 2017 Annual Report & Accounts, and which are summarised below.

• Failure to maximise the growth potential of the business - if we do not understand and exploit our growth opportunities in line with our business model and risk appetite, or if we do not meet the related growth challenges, we will not get maximum benefit from our growth potential.
• Deterioration of business model and culture - if we lose sight of our model and culture we may not serve our customers successfully and our long-term profitability may suffer.
• Changes in market conditions - weaker market conditions could affect our ability to achieve sales and profit forecasts. Weaker exchange rates could increase our cost of goods sold.
• Interruption to continuity of supply - could compromise our ability to deliver our in-stock business model.
• Loss of key personnel - could adversely affect the Group's operations.
• Health and Safety - could compromise the safety and wellbeing of individuals and the reputation and viability of the business.
• Cyber security incident - could cause a key system and/or sensitive data to be compromised.
• Product design relevance - if we do not offer the builder the products that they and their customers want, we could lose sales and customers.
• Credit control failure - could affect our ability to continue to support our customers via their nett monthly trade accounts, and potentially our ability to collect debts.

A copy of the Group's 2017 Annual Report & Accounts is available on the Group's website, www.howdenjoinerygroupplc.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

Certain statements in this half yearly report are forward-looking. Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements contain risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

We confirm that, to the best of our knowledge:

1. the condensed set of financial statements has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting';
2. the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R (indication of important events during the first 24 weeks and description of principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining 29 weeks of the year); and
3. the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.8R (disclosure of related parties' transactions and changes therein).

The directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included in the company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial information differs from legislation in other jurisdictions.

By order of the Board

Condensed consolidated income statement

Condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income

Condensed consolidated balance sheet

Condensed consolidated statement of changes in equity

The ESOP Reserve includes shares in Howden Joinery Group plc with a market value on the balance sheet date of £43.1m (June 2017: £29.9m, December 2017 £36.5m), which are held by the Group's Employee Share Trusts in order to satisfy share options and awards made under the Group's various share-based payment schemes.

The item "Movement in ESOP" consists of the share-based payment charge in the period, together with any receipts of cash from employees on exercise of share options.

At the current period end there were 6.7 million ordinary shares held in treasury, each with a nominal value of 10p (June 2017: 6.6 million shares, December 2017: 7.4 million shares).

Condensed consolidated statement of changes in equity - continued

Condensed consolidated cash flow statement

Condensed consolidated cash flow statement - continued

Notes

The full results including Notes can be downloaded in pdf format.