Marshalls on the march

Half-year figures confirm this: a 60 per cent rise in operating profit to £15.6m was achieved with sales growth of 15 per cent. Chief executive Martyn Coffey reckons that if positive conditions continue into the second half - which will be measured against the stronger comparables of last year's second half - full-year profits should beat earlier expectations.

Analysts at broker Numis Securities promptly upped their estimates for the current year and for 2015 to show bottom-line growth of 30 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively. This gives respective EPS of 9p and 10.9p, with pre-tax profits forecast at £21m for the current year and £26m for 2015 (from £13m and 6.9p in 2013).

The group's operations have traditionally been fairly evenly split between the public and commercial sectors on the one hand and the retail-focused domestic market on the other. But growth in public-sector and commercial work - up 19 per cent - has recently outpaced a more cautious recovery in the retail sector, so that the former now accounts for nearly two-thirds of group sales. Domestic sales were up a more modest 4 per cent in the first half. But sales were up 42 per cent in the international business, albeit from a low base; it still accounts for just 6 per cent of group turnover.