UK building products supplier SIG's profit up as housing recovers

March 13 (Reuters) - Building materials supplier SIG Plc (LSE: SHI.L - news) said full-year underlying pretax profit rose 5.3 percent as the UK residential construction market picked up in the second half of 2013.

The company, which operates in Europe as well as the UK, said it expected construction activity in the UK residential market to remain buoyant, with the non-residential sector continuing to be broadly flat.

SIG reported an underlying pretax profit of 88.1 million pounds ($146.3 million).

The company said in January it expected a full-year profit of at least 85.8 million pounds. Analysts on an average had expected 82.47 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters (Frankfurt: TOC.F - news) I/B/E/S.

Revenue for 2013 rose 4.4 percent to 2.58 billion pounds, falling short of the average estimate of 2.69 billion pounds.