Travis Perkins sturdy with solid turnover

 

Wickes owner Travis Perkins picked up market share after a 6% rise in turnover in the last nine months.

Travis Perkins

Building: The firm is on course to meet end-of-year forecasts

The builders' merchant and retail business, which employs more than 14,000 people and has around 1,200 outlets in the UK, revealed a faster pace of growth at both its divisions in the three months to September 30.

It remains on course to meet expectations for the full year but added that the rate of growth in the builders' merchant arm had fallen back in recent weeks whilst competitive pressures intensified at Wickes.

Analysts were comfortable with the update today and said the Northampton-based company continued to outperform its rivals in tough market conditions.

Andy Brown, an analyst at Panmure Gordon stockbrokers, said: 'Travis Perkins continues to deliver a good performance. While Wickes is seeing some competitive pressures, its merchanting operations more than offset this.'

Total turnover per trading day in merchanting rose 7.1% on a like-for-like basis in the first nine months of the year, accelerating to 10.3% in the third quarter.

At Wickes, the same measure of turnover showed a fall of 0.1% after growth of 0.6% in the last 13 weeks.

It reported a weakening in trends for big-ticket purchases but said margins were ahead and continued the form seen in the first six months of the year.

However it added: 'The recent response by competitors to the reduction in their market shares has resulted in an erosion of some of this gain.'

Travis recently announced a takeover deal worth £558 million for plumbing supplies specialist BSS in a move that will make it the leading player in the trade and retail distribution of plumbing and heating products.

BSS, which started life as British Steam Specialities in 1899 and currently operates from 439 branches in the UK, generated revenues of £1.35 billion and profits of £49.6 million in the year to March 31.

The deal is the largest undertaken by Travis since the £950 million takeover of the Wickes DIY chain in 2005.