White van men lose no drive from Brexit

Bullish white van men have shrugged off Brexit-related uncertainty in the UK’s construction industry, the boss of builders’ merchant giant Grafton said today.

Gavin Slark, chief executive of the Selco owner, said tradesmen hadn’t been deterred by Brexit or the general election, and he was still confident in the UK outlook.

“There may be some speed bumps along the way but we still look at the UK with quite a lot of confidence,” Slark added.

Grafton’s focus on smaller independent builders — it has an average basket size of just £75 — also helped it to buck the recent trends set by its peers, he said.

The FTSE 250 firm, which also owns Buildbase, today revealed strong first-half figures. Pre-tax profits jumped 18% to £74 million on higher revenues of £1.34 billion, beating City forecasts.

Grafton shares rose 1.3% to 787.5p. The upbeat outlook boosted rivals including Travis Perkins and FTSE 250 roofing and insulation specialist SIG.