Shares of Marshalls plc, the Elland, West Yorkshire-based stone and landscaping firm, fell as much as 20% after it published a trading update for the six months to June 30, 2025, saying “full year expectations for the group have reduced.”

Marshalls said: “The group delivered revenue of £319 million (2024: £307 million), which is a year-on-year increase of four per cent with volume growth being partially offset by weaker pricing and product mix. 

“However, activity levels in our key end markets softened from the end of May, and the board does not currently see any immediate catalyst for improvement in these for the remainder of 2025.

“Landscaping Products revenue contracted by one per cent year-on-year to £135 million (2024: £137 million), which is a significant improvement on the 11 per cent year-on-year reduction reported in the second half of 2024.  This positive revenue trend has been underpinned by improved engagement with key customers leading to volume gains and regaining of market share.

“However, Landscaping end markets remain challenging with structural overcapacity in the UK supply chain continuing to exert downward pressure on prices.

“Additionally, cumulative inflation in building materials has driven increased value engineering in construction projects, shifting demand toward commodity products over higher margin value-added solutions. 

“The combination of these market headwinds, together with a less profitable product mix, underutilisation of our manufacturing network and targeted investment in pricing to win share, have impacted profitability during the period. 

“This fell short of the group’s original expectation and the board is now assuming that these headwinds continue with no increase in market activity levels in the remainder of 2025. This is expected to result in continued pressure on profitability in the second half.

“A central part of the Landscaping improvement plan is optimising our manufacturing footprint to create a more flexible and responsive national network. In the first half of the year, the board acted to reduce capacity through a partial site closure, which will deliver annualised savings of approximately £3 million.

“Further actions are planned in the second half to improve profitability, aiming to increase the total annualised benefit to approximately £9 million. Alongside this, we remain focused on executing all key workstreams at pace, positioning us for a material improvement in performance in 2026.

“Building Products revenue grew by five per cent to £86 million (2024: £82 million).  This growth reflects a continued strong performance in Water Management driven by good commercial execution alongside securing incremental infrastructure business.  

“In addition, our Mortars business delivered good revenue growth with moderate improvements in build rates on housing developments favouring ready-to-use mortars.  Brick revenues contracted in a competitive market as the business maintained a disciplined pricing strategy, choosing to protect margin rather than chase volume at lower prices.

“Roofing Products revenue increased by 11 per cent to £98 million (2024: £88 million), sustaining the strong momentum reported in the second half of 2024.

“This performance was primarily driven by the continued exceptional growth of Viridian Solar, which achieved approximately 50 per cent revenue growth in the first half of the year.

“Additionally, Marley Roofing delivered modest gains, reinforcing its market-leading position by growing its share in clay plain tiles and timber battens, while holding share in concrete tiles.”

In its outlook, Marshalls said: “Being mindful of continuing uncertainty in the macro-economic environment, the board currently sees no improvement in market activity levels through the remainder of 2025. 

“Accordingly, its full year expectations for the group have reduced and it now expects adjusted profit before tax to be in the range of £42 million and £46 million in 2025. In response, the board is taking decisive action to accelerate the optimisation of the national manufacturing network and reduce costs whilst continuing to deliver on all elements of the Landscaping performance improvement plan.”