Merchant divisions drive Travis Perkins turnover up
Builders' merchant and Wickes owner Travis Perkins has posted a strong performance in the first nine months of the year, announcing a 6 per cent increase in turnover.
The Northampton-based company, which employs more than 14,000 staff and has around 1,200 stores in the UK, said it was on track to meet its targets for the full year but added that growth had slowed in recent weeks at its builders' merchant division.
Total turnover per trading day in merchanting increased by 7.1 per cent on a like-for-like basis in the first nine months of the year, increasing to 10.3 per cent in the third quarter.
Takeover: Travis Perkins has recently acquired plumbing supplies specialist BSS
Analysts welcomed the results, saying the company continued to outperform its competitors in a challenging trading environment.
'Travis Perkins continues to deliver a good performance. While Wickes is seeing some competitive pressures, its merchanting operations more than offset this,' Andy Brown, analyst at Panmure Gordon stockbrokers, said.
At Wickes, like-for-like sales increased 0.6 per cent in the last 13 weeks.
The company said that big-ticket purchases had fallen back but noted that margins were ahead and continued the performance seen in the first half of the year.
It added, however, that the recent response by rivals to the reduction in their market share had led to 'an erosion of some of this gain'.
The company has recently the £558million takeover of plumbing supplies specialist BSS, in a deal that will create the largest plumbing and heating trade and retail distribution business.
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