Grafton Group enjoyed a strong 2014 - posting a 56 percent increase in its pre-tax profits - growing to £101.2 million (€141 million) for the year.

Revenues increased by 9.6 percent to £2.1bn (€2.9bn) and operating profit was up by 43 percent to £110m (€154m).

The company operates as Woodies in Ireland and also sells in Britain and Belgium.

A statement from the company says that the its expansion has been driven by, "Strong UK merchanting performance driven by growth in the housing repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) and new-build markets."

It also says that it saw, "significant profit growth in Irish Merchanting business as market recovery accelerated" while the DIY market remained "stable."

Gavin Slark, Chief Executive Officer welcomed the results: "2014 was a year of significant progress for Grafton which recorded its fifth successive year of strong profit growth and met the Board’s ‘first base’ financial targets of an operating profit margin exceeding 5% and a double digit return on capital employed."

He continues: "Given that 2014 was also the first full year of recovery in its major businesses, the overall outlook for the Group is positive."