RECORD profits have been posted by an international commercial and domestic flooring firm based in Radcliffe.

This was on top of James Halstead’s best-ever revenues performance, with their 2019 total coming in at £253million, up 1.4 per cent year-on-year.

The Hollinhurst Road firm, on the back of this, has reported pre-tax profits of £48.3million, beating their 2018 showing by 3.4 per cent, despite ongoing uncertainty across industry, generated by Brexit.

Markets in European, for their Objectflor and James Halstead France divisions, have also been described as "slothful", though that sector's turnover remained only 1.2 per cent down.

Key contracts have also been secured by Polyflor Pacific, their interests in Australia New Zealand and Asia.

Investors can also expect a final dividend of 10p per ordinary share, a 3.6 per cent rise.

An announcement was also made in September that their Whitefield-based Polyflor brand in the UK has secured a key supply contract with the NHS, an organisation it has partnered with for 70 years.

Company chairman Anthony Wild said: "The UK turnover, which represents 35 per cent of the total, grew by a very respectable 7.1 per cent and this is the result of targeted sales focus in a difficult market.

"The constant focus on Brexit has led to deferred spending in several sectors and certain retail chains are curtailing their normal refurbishment cycles."

He also said trading had been "solid" since the year-end reporting cycle.

Mark Halstead, chief executive, added: "(This is ) welcome news with record turnover, record profit and once again a record dividend."

Turnover has also grown 3.8 per cent for Polyflor Nordic, with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim among their standout customers.