Building products manufacturer Marshalls is cutting 250 jobs and closing its factory in Carluke, Lanarkshire as the slowing housing market drags down sales.

The job losses come on top of 150 redundancies at the end of last year.

Marshalls confirmed the cuts in a gloomy trading update today which warned performance in the second half of the year will be below market expectations.

For the six months to June 30 2022 group revenue fell by 13% with the biggest falls at landscape products which was hit hard by its exposure to new build housing and domestic refurbishment work.

Marshalls Building Products delivered a more resilient performance, supported by demand for bricks, masonry and mortars, offset by weaker volumes in drainage and aggregates, which are correlated to the lower number of new housing starts.

The recently acquired Marley Roofing Products saw mixed demand across its product offering with revenue down 7% overall to £93m.

Marshalls said the job cuts and closure would save £9m annually.

It added: “The Board has reduced its capital expenditure plans without impacting critical projects, is executing a programme of surplus land disposals, and has continued to focus on efficient working capital management in order to reduce the Group’s net debt.”

Net debt stood at £185m at the end of June compared to £208m the previous year.

The update said: “Whilst previously anticipating a recovery in market conditions in the second half of the year, the Board is now of the view that an improvement in the second half performance is unlikely given the macro-economic backdrop.  

“In addition, the Board has chosen to reduce production volumes with a negative impact on operational efficiency in order to manage working capital. 

“Taking these factors together, and in the absence of a recovery in demand in the Group’s end markets, the Board believes that the result in the second half will be markedly weaker than the first half, and consequently expects to deliver a result for the full year that is lower than its previous expectations.”