Trading in the first four months of FY17 has been in line with management expectations and our estimates are unchanged. Market commentary is cautious, but as outlined in our recent note Epwin Group (LON:EPWN) has a number of internal initiatives underway to further improve the business and mitigate near-term input cost pressures. In our view, longer-term prospects are somewhat better than the current rating is implying.
A steady start to the year
For the UK building materials sector, Q2, Q3 and into Q4 are the busiest periods, but it is encouraging to know that the first four months of Epwin’s trading year have met management expectations. Industry-wide materials input cost rises have been flagged previously and there appears to be no additional caution in this area. In flat RMI markets, Epwin is focusing on operational improvements (eg in fabrication) and marketing initiatives (eg branding and range development of window systems and canopy products plus greater co-ordination across group companies). H117 will benefit from an extra five months of National Plastics trading and we expect Fabrication & Distribution to show a more robust y-o-y performance. We will take a view on the likely shape and quantum of H117 results at the end of the half year.
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