The UK housing market is performing worse than expected this year, the chief executive of building materials company Travis Perkins told CNBC Friday.
"The markets are quite challenging," Geoff Cooper said."We have got public sector cuts coming in and the slowdown is worse than we expected."
Travis Perkins' profit rose by 25 percent to 140 million pounds ($228 million) in the first half of 2011, it announced Friday.
Revenue rose by 54 percent to 2.35 billion pounds after the acquisition of rival BSS. On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 7.2 percent.
"People are worried about their own financial situation, and our customers are having problems getting financing," Cooper added.
He pointed out that the London market was still strong, while the rest of the UK was still suffering.
