Tough trading conditions in America have forced international building materials firm Hanson to bring forward a trading update.
The firm, which employs 900 people at 45 sites in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Sussex and Hampshire, is expecting pre-tax profits for the year to dip to £345m.
Managers said that was close to analysts' forecasts but it represents a £6m drop on last year's figure.
The statement said the company's cautious predictions earlier this year about the state of the US construction sector had been justified, with most of its major markets showing weakness.
Meanwhile, demand in the UK has remained at the low levels seen in early summer, with an anticipated post-June upturn not materialising. But profit for the UK aggregates division was ahead of last year
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