Grafton Group, which operates builder's merchants and DIY businesses, has acquired Direct Builders Merchants.
The company is a general merchanting business trading from three branches in Kent, in Sittingbourne, Whitstable and most recently in Ashford.

Grafton says that the bolt-on acquisition of Direct, which had revenue of £4.8m last year, improves its coverage of the merchanting market in Kent and the south east of England.

Grafton has operations in the UK, Ireland and Belgium, and the lion's share of its trade comes from its builder's merchants businesses. Just 8% of revenue comes from retail, most prominently from Woodie's, which has 37 stores in Ireland.

In the half year to June 30 2014 Grafton pushed revenue up 11% to £1.02bn and underlying operating profit up 62% to £50.6m, while underlying pre-tax profit leapt 88% to £45.9m.