The forecasts come as the company, which operates in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Finland, hailed an “excellent performance” in major parts of its Irish and Dutch businesses during a volatile year for all building material distributors and suppliers.

It reported group pretax profit generated from continuing operations rose by less than 1% to almost £252m (€284m) last year, as revenues climbed 9% to over £2.3bn.

In the UK, revenue fell slightly amid the squeeze on household budgets, which were “largely offset by double digit materials price inflation”, it said.

However, in Ireland, Grafton said its building supplies distributor Chadwicks had emerged as its “most profitable business” with Irish revenues boosted by price inflation and acquisitions. It sees consumer spending in Ireland is holding up comparatively well this year.

Operating profit at its relatively small retail operation Woodie’s came back into line with levels since before the onset of the pandemic, Grafton said.

On the group outlook, Grafton said that “strong labour markets with low levels of unemployment and declining energy prices and inflation should have a positive impact on consumer spending”.

Grafton’s new chief executive Eric Born indicted no major change in its acquisition policy. The company holds around £258m in cash.