Shares of Doncaster-based piping and ventilation systems firm Polypipe Group rose about 3% on Tuesday after gave investors a positive outlook for the year ahead despite its 2020 revenue falling 10.9% to £398.6 million and profit before tax falling 60.4% to £23.8 million.

Proposed final dividend for 2020 is 4.8p per share, up 20%.

In its outlook, Polypipe said: “Our markets continue to recover, with recent extensions to the stamp duty holiday and the existing Help to Buy scheme, together with the recently announced Government mortgage guarantee scheme, providing further confidence in the new housebuilding sector.

“There remains continued improvement in RMI, commercial and infrastructure markets.

“Our medium-term demand drivers are stronger than ever — a continued structural UK housing shortage, the regulatory and environmental drivers around water and climate management, and increasingly indoor air quality, will be helpful tailwinds.

“The robust response to the crisis to strengthen the group’s balance sheet and continue investment in new products has positioned the group on the front foot coming out of the crisis.

“Our businesses have started the new year strongly with no discernible impact on demand from the current lockdown.

“With our newly acquired businesses Adey, Nu-Heat and Plura, the Board believes the group is in a strong position to deliver an improved performance in 2021.”

Polypipe is the largest UK manufacturer of piping systems for the residential, commercial, civils and infrastructure sectors by revenue and is also a leading manufacturer of energy efficient ventilation systems.

Polypipe CEO Martin Payne said: “We have continued to invest in new products, technologies and businesses to emerge stronger out of the pandemic.

“Trading conditions since the end of the year, together with the structural growth markets we are aligned to, provide confidence in the outlook for the current year and over the medium term.”