The results compare to a pre-tax profit of £12.2m from a turnover of £1.4bn in the same period last year.

SIG said it was hit by challenging market conditions across Europe with revenue down 9% in the UK at £553m with the interiors division hardest hit with a 14% drop in sales to £250m.

The company said: “Growth rates in the Interiors business reflect the decline in market volumes, with dry lining most challenging.”

Gavin Slark, Chief Executive Officer, said:“Our results in the first half reflect the prolonged challenging market conditions we are currently facing across most of our European businesses. In light of these conditions, we took further actions to reduce our permanent cost base in the half, which will benefit us in the future.

“During the period, we also made further progress on our strategic initiatives to improve our underlying operations and to position us to capture additional growth when markets improve.

“The Board believes the Group remains well positioned to benefit from the market recovery when it occurs.”