Trade kitchen supplier Howdens reported it had “gained market share” in its half year results, despite a challenging marketplace.

It achieved a revenue of £966.3million, which was 4.3% ahead of last year, with profit before tax amounting to £112.3m in line with last year.

This followed £16million investment in strategic initiatives in the first half of the year, with cost increases due to higher inflation offset by productivity and efficiency improvements.

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Commenting on the results chief executive Andrew Livingston said: “Howdens performance in the first half was encouraging and we gained market share in a challenging marketplace.

“We continued to invest in our strategic initiatives which is strengthening our differentiated business model and delivering positive results.

“We are focused on the significant growth opportunities in our core UK kitchen and joinery markets.

“To access these, we are progressing our new depot and reformat programme and making range and product innovations.

“We are also manufacturing more of what we sell and, alongside the provision of unequalled stock availability, we are adding further digital capabilities to support our trade customers and depot teams.

“We continue to see opportunities to develop our business model internationally and we’re making good progress in establishing Howdens’ presence, laying the foundations for future success.”

Howdens plans to open 30 UK depots and five international depots this year and to date has opened 10 in the UK and one in the Republic of Ireland.

In addition, it has completed 26 depot revamps and relocations and expects to complete around 85 by the end of the year.

Having introduced 11 kitchen ranges for 2024, it is now refreshing its joinery, paint to order and solid worksurface offerings and adding bedroom ranges.

Howdens has also upgraded its click and collect service, enabling customers to see live depot stock and invested in infrastructure to optimise its stock availability.

Furthermore,  it has invested in manufacturing and its kitchen frontal and end-panel at its Howden site will product around 2million pieces, up from 600,000 in 2023.

Despite the continued challenging market environment, Howdens reports its builder customers remain busy and it is focusing on competitive pricing to support them, while balancing inflationary pressures to optimise volumes.

Howdens’ performance has been in line with expectations and the group is confident it is on track with its outlook for 2024.