City File: Carr Kitcat & Aitken

NOBODY IN his or her right mind would buy the construction materials sector at the moment. The end of the recession, whenever that will be, will come a year later for the contracting industry, such is the overhang from the building boom of the late 1980s. But, says Carr Kitcat & Aitken, there are exceptions. One is RMC, the ready-mixed concrete group. UK profits fell 61 per cent last year and are expected to slump a further 28 per cent this year. But the domestic market's demise is compensated for by the group's continental exposure, particularly in Germany.