Cost of UK bathroom refits and heating upgrades to increase due to Middle-East conflict
Key Points
- Genuit Group, the UK's biggest maker of pipes, announced double-digit price increases in the first half of 2026.
- The increases, which took effect in May, were attributed to the rising cost of inflation caused by the Middle-East conflict.
- Oil prices directly impact polymer costs, the raw material used in many of Genuit's products.
- Genuit noted that these higher prices are the new baseline and that it expects its financials to benefit from the rises in the second half of the year.
Genuit Group, the UK’s biggest maker of pipes, announced double-digit price increases in the first half of 2026 its half-year results published on Tuesday (11 August).
Genuit is the UK’s largest maker of plastic pipes, drainage systems and ventilation. While it’s brand may not be household names – Polypipe, Nuaire, Adey, Manthorpe, Salamander, Nu-heat, and Omnie – there is a good chance that they appear somewhere in your home.
The increases, which took effect in May, were attributed to the rising cost of inflation caused by the Middle-East conflict. Oil prices directly impact polymer costs, the raw material used in many of Genuit’s products. While the group does rely on recycled materials, it does still need ‘virgin’ polymer for certain products.
The group’s financials show that sales were down 8.7% in the four months to April on a like-for-like basis, with May and June seeing some uptick as the higher prices took effect. Revenue for the six months to 30 June was £307.8 million, up 3.4% year-on-year.
Genuit noted that these higher prices are the new baseline and that it expects its financials to benefit from the rises in the second half of the year.
“We worked with customers to implement price increases in response to cost inflation driven by the Middle East conflict and accelerated the simplification of the business and controlled costs in response to lower market volumes,” said Joe Vorih, Chief Executive Officer of Genuit Group.
Despite the raised prices, Genuit said to continues to expect difficult conditions to continue for the remainder of 2026, blaming the ongoing Middle-East crisis and the broader UK economy.
It added that the UK’s home repair, maintenance, and improvement market remains subdued.
