He said Grafton has a constant pipeline of acquisition opportunities, but is generally well-represented in its traditional main markets of the UK and Ireland.

The Dublin-headquartered group has traditionally derived most of its revenues from its builders’ merchants businesses in the UK. 

As well as Woodie’s, its Irish operations include the Chadwicks building supplies business. But, the group’s revenues have become more geographically diverse.

Despite selling its Belgian business two years ago, Grafton's operations in the Netherlands have grown to represent around €300m of group sales and it recently expanded into the Nordic region with a €200m acquisition in Finland.

“There are definitely other geographies in Europe which we’d like to get into, if we can get the right deal,” Mr Slark said.

Grafton reported revenues of £1.028bn (€1.2bn) for the first six months of this year. That total was up by over 46% on the pandemic stricken first half of 2020, but crucially also up on a like-for-like basis by around 18% on the more normal first half of 2019.

Adjusted operating profit roared ahead to almost £158m, compared to just under £47m at the halfway stage of last year.

Revenues at Grafton’s continuing business in the UK which, following the sale of part of the traditional merchanting business, takes in distribution companies such as Selco and Leyland SDM, jumped nearly 17% in the first half.

In Ireland, Grafton said first-half profitability at  Chadwicks was materially higher than the first half of 2019, while unprecedented consumer demand drove Woodie’s to record sales levels as it remained largely open during lockdown periods as an essential retailer.

While Woodie’s is expected to keep performing well, Mr Slark said its revenues are likely to normalise in the second half of the year as more of the economy opens up and initial pent-up consumer demand levels out.