Specialist woodcare and paint company Rustins, has reported a 10% increase in sales in its paint division for 2009.
Sales for the division reached £5.2m in a year that saw the company refocus on its core business and divest itself of its non-core printing division.

"It was a good year for us," managing director Ed Krawitt told DIY Week. "Of course a smaller company has a better chance of outperforming the market, but we had really good performances from the new products we launched in 2009. The sales force worked really hard and we re-energized the business so that it is 100% focused on paint, wood finishes and decorating sundries. No more distractions."

And so far 2010 has been a good year, with January and February up on 2009 (the latter "significantly up") despite the bad weather.