By Roshan Thomas
(Reuters) -James Hardie Industries reported a 9% drop in annual profit on Wednesday and flagged weaker-than-expected earnings growth for the 2026 fiscal year, which sent the building materials maker’s shares down 7%.
The world’s largest fibre cement maker said it expects its total adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be up by low single digits in the year to March 2026 and warned that conditions could worsen.
“More recent, broader macroeconomic uncertainty could further impact the cost of home construction and weigh on consumer sentiment, influencing demand,” the company said in a statement.
It projected a decline in market volumes in fiscal 2026 for its North America business, its largest segment, but said it expects net sales to grow modestly in the low single digits.
The guidance was below consensus expectations for more than 6% growth in North America sales and 8% growth in group EBITDA, analysts at Jefferies said.
James Hardie’s stock was down 7% at midday, on track to record its worst day since April 7, and among the biggest losers on the benchmark index, which was up 0.9%.
“Given the stock has rallied somewhat into the results, we expect it to be soft today,” analysts at Citi said in a note.
The company reported an annual adjusted net income of $644.3 million, down from $707.5 million a year ago, but slightly ahead of analysts’ estimates.
It attributed the decline to weaker performance in its Asia Pacific segment and a modest decrease in net sales in North America. Asia Pacific fibre cement sales dropped 7% for the year, hit by lower volumes mainly due to the shutdown of its operations in the Philippines.
North America fibre cement sales slipped 1% for the year, as a small drop in volumes outweighed gains from the company’s annual price hike. Gross margin for the segment fell 2.2%, hit by rising pulp and cement costs.
(Reporting by Roshan Thomas and Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona and Sonali Paul)
