Building materials group Hanson said its full-year profits would be hit by the cost of rising energy prices and, in the UK, disruption from the weather.

Hanson said, assuming normal weather for the remainder of the year, pre-tax profits, before one-off costs, would be likely to be slightly below last year's £314.3m.

Hanson operates waste-disposal sites and quarries in Oxfordshire, and Hanson Concrete Products, at Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon, is the UK market leader in concrete blocks and concrete drainage products.

The group's second half was affected by rising energy costs, which had a material impact on its mobile plant, haulage, marine dredgers, brick kilns and bitumen businesses.

The impact of higher prices would be £25m in the second half, and 40m for the year as a whole, it said.

Weaker demand for aggregates in the South of England and South Wales had been exacerbated by the recent heavy rain, which had hit activity at many construction sites, it added.