Turnaround Progress at Marshalls

• Half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2026
• Sharper execution converting self-help actions into profit growth in subdued markets

Marshalls plc, the diversified building products manufacturer and sustainable solutions provider for the built environment, announces its results for the half year ended 30 June 2026.

Strategic and operational highlights

• Sharper operating focus driving improved execution, with management effort concentrated on quality of service, margin and cash.
  
  
• Landscaping Products moving from reset to delivery, with improved service and customer engagement supporting market share momentum and the beginning of a recovery in profitability. Remains on track to deliver the previously announced £11 million of annualised cost savings by the end of FY26.
  
  
• Building Products delivered a mixed performance, with Mortars & Screeds remaining resilient while Bricks & Masonry focused on service levels and costs in a difficult new housing market.
  
  
• Water Management continued to make progress in building its infrastructure-led pipeline.
  
  
• Roofing Products remained resilient, with Marley Roofing gaining market share despite a competitive concrete roof tile market and Viridian Solar continuing to broaden its offer as Part L 2021 adoption becomes embedded.

Financial highlights

• Adjusted operating profit increased by 8.1% to £30.7 million (H1 2025: £28.4 million) driven by the beginning of a recovery in Landscaping Products’ profitability from ongoing execution of our Landscaping performance improvement plan.
  
  
• Adjusted basic earnings per share increased by 14.4% to 7.6 pence (H1 2025: 6.6 pence), reflecting the improvement in adjusted operating profit, lower finance costs and a reduced effective tax rate. Interim dividend increased by 13.6% to 2.5 pence per share (H1 2025: 2.2 pence).
  
  
• Balance sheet discipline maintained, with cash, working capital, capital expenditure tightly controlled; pre-IFRS 16 net debt of £136.8 million, leverage of 1.7 times, operating cash conversion of 98%.

Outlook

• No material market recovery assumed in H2 2026: tight control of execution, cost, cash and capital support the Board’s confidence despite uncertain markets.
  
  
• FY26 profitability expectations unchanged: ‘Transform & Grow’ strategy supports medium-term margin, cash and returns improvement.

Market conditions are expected to remain subdued with no material recovery in end-market demand during 2026. Against this backdrop, management remains focused on disciplined execution, tight cost and cash control, and targeted commercial actions to mitigate external cost pressures. 

The Landscaping Products performance improvement plan is progressing in line with expectations and remains on track to deliver the previously announced £11 million of annualised cost savings by the end of FY26. The Group’s diversified portfolio continues to provide resilience, supported by Roofing Products, and the medium-term growth opportunities in Viridian Solar and Water Management. 

Trading in the first half, together with continued operational progress and financial discipline, supports the Board’s expectations for FY26, which are unchanged. The Board remains confident that the disciplined execution of our ‘Transform & Grow’ strategy will support improved margins, cash generation and returns over the medium term, with a pathway to double operating profit. 

Simon Bourne, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“We have delivered a resilient first half performance, despite subdued end markets, with adjusted profit growth delivered in line with expectations. This reflects our reinvigorated focus on sharper execution, continued financial discipline and the benefits of actions taken through FY25 to create a leaner and more focused operating platform.

“Landscaping Products demonstrates the clearest evidence of this progress, with our performance improvement plan delivering improved profitability and the business remaining on track to deliver the previously announced £11 million of annualised cost savings by the end of FY26. Roofing Products continued to provide a strong contribution, driven by Viridian Solar and disciplined trading in Marley Roofing. Building Products was mixed, with Mortars & Screeds resilient and Water Management positioned for infrastructure-led growth, but weak new build housing demand weighed on both Bricks & Masonry and Water Management performance in the first half.

“We remain focused on what we can control: service, cost, cash, working capital and disciplined capital allocation. We are not factoring a material market recovery into our second half assumptions, and the operational progress delivered to date, together with the strength of our diversified portfolio, supports the Board’s confidence in the Group’s outlook for the full year and our medium-term growth potential.”

Strategy Update

Landscaping Products

Marshalls Landscaping (Brand Powerhouse) – Driving greater value from the distinctive national specification pull model

Landscaping end markets remained at low activity levels through the first half, with continued pressure in new build housing and discretionary RMI and competitive conditions across several product categories. Against this backdrop, Landscaping Products delivered an improvement in profitability, providing clear evidence that the strategic, commercial and operational actions taken over the last 18 months are translating into improved financial performance.

The business has moved from reset to delivery. Actions taken through FY25 to simplify the portfolio, reduce complexity and improve operational efficiency have created a leaner, more focused operating platform.  We remain on course to deliver the previously announced £11 million of annualised cost savings by the end of FY26, providing a strong foundation for continued margin improvement. Our operational actions have been supported by stronger commercial execution, tighter trading discipline, improving customer service and availability and a more selective approach to pricing and revenue opportunities. The result has been improved performance without reliance on a recovery in underlying markets. 

Market share across the core Landscaping categories has increased over the last 12 months and Net Promoter Scores have improved by around eleven percentage points. These gains reflect increased customer penetration and share of wallet, improved category management and continued delivery of our specification strategy rather than broad-based price investment. Revenue benefitted from our disciplined approach to pricing, and we are focused on enhancing product mix through our NPD programme. New ‘better’ category products launched in Q2 strengthened the mid-range offer and generated encouraging early customer engagement, while the forward specification pipeline contains a greater proportion of higher-value opportunities. 

Our priority for the second half is to build on this progress through continued commercial excellence, specification growth, further NPD penetration and increased productivity and cost-to-serve improvements. These actions are creating a more commercially effective and efficient business, with any recovery in endmarket demand providing additional upside rather than being the principal driver of improved performance.

Building Products

Marshalls Water Management (Growth Engine) – Repositioning for infrastructure-led growth 

Although performance was affected by continued softness in traditional end markets linked to new build housing, Water Management remained strategically well positioned in H1 2026. The business remains focused on building a platform for infrastructure-led growth, supported by AMP8 which represents an important catalyst, but not the full extent of the opportunity which spans across adjacent infrastructure markets. The cumulative UK domestic opportunity for physical climate-adaptation interventions, which includes water and grid infrastructure investment, is estimated at £57–64 billion over the period to 2035, providing a supportive longterm demand backdrop.

During H1, good progress has been made in strengthening the business’s influence earlier in the project lifecycle. Framework agreements are now in place with three water companies. The business has also continued to develop its pipeline of engineered solutions and specification-led opportunities, including orders for specialist tanks and combined sewer overflow solutions on AMP8 schemes. Evidence of conversion is beginning to emerge, with AMP8-related sales more than doubling compared with H1 2025.   Alongside development of the commercial pipeline, we are strengthening our operational capability. Our existing manufacturing footprint and national delivery network provide a strong foundation for future growth, with capital-light opportunities identified to expand capability within the current footprint. 

Our priority for H2 is to accelerate the development of our infrastructure growth platform by continuing to strengthen operational readiness, including progressing targeted NPD and building effective routes to market. These actions will position the business to convert opportunities profitably as infrastructure programmes move from design and appraisal into delivery, while maintaining a competitive and profitable position in its established core markets.

Marshalls Bricks & Masonry (Growth Engine) - Accelerating concrete adoption as lower carbon alternative

Bricks & Masonry continued to be affected by weak new build housing demand and competitive supply conditions during H1 2026. In response, the business remained focused on disciplined execution, protecting margin quality and maintaining strong relationships with both national and regional housebuilders.  Capital deployment has been deliberately moderated since Q4 2025, consistent with the Group’s focus on near-term value creation, disciplined investment and prioritising returns where they are most visible.

The business remains strategically aligned to the medium-term opportunity in lower-carbon construction, supported by its differentiated concrete brick and masonry proposition, product quality and supply reliability. Our priority for H2 is to maintain commercial discipline, control cost and capital deployment, and remain well positioned for a recovery in new build housing demand.

Roofing Products

Marley Roofing (Brand Powerhouse) - Strengthening roofing heartlands and driving share in adjacencies

Marley Roofing gained market share and delivered a resilient H1 2026 performance, reflecting the strength of its brand, specification relationships and disciplined approach to trading in a subdued and competitive concrete roof tile market, combined with growth in clay tile volumes. This is reflected in an increase in our market share for concrete and clay tiles, supported by our relative sector exposure advantage, which is weighted towards the more resilient RMI market. Our operating margins are in line with expectations, supported by proactive commercial management, service performance and long-term customer relationships.

In response to weak residential new build demand, pricing pressure, and aggressive competitor activity, the business is proactively implementing measures to retain agility and safeguard performance. Our market analysis indicates that net market capacity in concrete tiles increased by around 12% during the last twelve months, with new capacity fully embedded in the comparatives from the start of H2. Our tighter operating rhythm is enabling faster and more targeted management action to win in this competitive marketplace. Marley’s differentiated position is underpinned by its trusted specification relationships, established social housing presence, technical expertise, service reliability and broader roof-system proposition. Long-standing relationships with specialist roofing distributors, contractors and housebuilders, combined with our technical support capability and national supply, create meaningful barriers to entry. 

During H1, the business continued to strengthen its position with key customers through reliable service, disciplined pricing and close engagement. Marley also grew engagement in Private RMI and strengthened system-led selling across tiles, accessories, ventilation, solar, supporting improved attachment rates, while maintaining close control of costs. 

Our priority for H2 is to safeguard our market leading position and profitability, maintain service and quality, and progress plans to improve the efficiency of our manufacturing network, leaving Marley well positioned to benefit from a recovery when demand improves. 

Viridian Solar (Growth Engine) - Leveraging regulatory tailwinds to accelerate growth
Viridian Solar continued to strengthen its position in the integrated solar roofing market during H1 2026. The transition to Part L 2021 is now largely embedded, with the business continuing to deepen relationships with housebuilders, driving revenue growth of 7% compared to H1 2025. 

As the current regulatory cycle, which has supported revenue growth of around 300% between 2021 and 2025, approaches maturity, the Future Homes Standard provides the next medium-term growth opportunity given the mandatory solar requirements it brings for new-build homes. To prepare for this next phase of market development, we remain focused on maintaining exceptional service and technical leadership. In addition, we are building the operational readiness required to capture the increase in solar adoption and larger system sizes required by the new standard, which together are expected to result in a doubling of the addressable market.  We expect this next phase of regulatory growth to commence in late 2028 and be fully embedded by 2030. 

Viridian Solar also continues to develop scalable opportunities beyond its core roof-integrated solar proposition. ArcBox addresses solar safety and fire-risk management and provides optionality in adjacent markets, supported by growing patent coverage and early international partner development across 17 countries. 

Our priorities for H2 include the launch of our innovative new digital customer platform, supporting partners with their planning for the transition to Future Homes Standard and continued international sales expansion of ArcBox.  

Source : Marshalls plc

Image : Marshalls plc

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