Construction supplies group Readymix said trading so far this year has been satisfactory, although margins will remain under pressure because of higher energy prices and a competitive marketplace.

Speaking at the annual general meeting (agm) in Dublin yesterday, chairman Adrian Auer said the group successfully raised concrete prices by as much as 7 per cent at the start of the year and as a result, was managing to pass some of the higher energy costs on to its customers. He said demand for the group's products remains strong.

"The momentum of performance improvement across the company is gathering pace," said Mr Auer, reiterating comments made in the company's annual report that 2006's financial performance will be a "significant improvement" on the prior year.

Adding to this positive sentiment, managing director Roger Gonzalez said sales and profit in the first four months of this year are a "real improvement" on the year-earlier period, although he warned that this does not necessarily mean the whole year, will continue in the same way.

Readymix, which is controlled by Mexican group Cemex, is starting to benefit from a restructuring of the business that took place last year. The group closed its road-surfacing division and also sold several properties, boosting last year's net profits to €24.6 million. Without these exceptional gains, operating profit at Readymix's core unit fell 4.3 per cent to €13.23 million. Turnover increased marginally to €247.9 million.

Mr Auer said property sales have left the company in a very strong financial position to expand the business.

Mr Gonzalez said he expected significant interest in the sale of the East Wall Road site, although he declined to comment on tenders received so far.