LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Builders' merchant Travis Perkins said on Tuesday that it swung to a first-half loss as revenue fell due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the six months to the end of June, the company swung to a pre-tax loss of £126.5m from a profit of £15.8m in the same period a year, with revenue falling 20.2% to £2.8bn. Adjusted operating profit slumped 80.9% to £42m.

The Wickes and Toolstation owner said its performance in the first half was "significantly" affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

While it made an encouraging start to 2020, with revenue growth of 2.4% in the 11 weeks to 18 March, as the impact of the pandemic spread to the UK and the lockdown period was implemented, overall revenue in the half declined.

Toolstation put in the best performance, with revenues up 37% to £285m, while retail sales fell 8.5% to £636m and merchanting sales slid 25.9% to £1.4bn. Travis Perkins said trade merchanting sales were severely impacted by the lockdown period, with around a third of branches open during the end of March and April as the business pivoted to focus on essential projects only, including support to build the network of Nightingale Hospitals.

Chief executive Nick Roberts said: "Although our financial performance in the first half of 2020 was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and we have had to undertake a restructuring programme in light of the challenging outlook for the group's end markets, we have made significant strategic and operational progress against the four strategic priorities we outlined at our full year results in March 2020.

"Although considerable uncertainty around the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic remains, the actions we have taken to adapt and innovate in our businesses mean that the group is well placed to continue to service our customers, support our colleagues, outperform our markets and generate value for our shareholders."

At 1310 BST, the shares were down 5.8% at 1,148.50p.

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