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Builders and plumbers merchant group Travis Perkins saw merchanting sales rise 11.4% for the first nine months of 2011. An interim management statement said today.
Including BSS in 2010 on a proforma basis, Group turnover for the nine months to the end of September, which included 1 less trading day than for the comparable period in 2010, was up 5.9%. Overall turnover without this proforma adjustment was ahead by 53.4%.
For the first nine months of 2011 total turnover in the merchanting division showed an increase in like-for-like turnover per trading day of 9.6%. Like-for-like turnover per trading day for the third quarter increased by 7.7%. General merchanting total turnover was up 10.0% for the nine months, with like-for-like turnover per trading day up 9.2%, whilst the specialist merchanting business saw total turnover increase 13.8 % with like-for-like turnover per trading day up by 10.3%.
The non-BSS revenue gains continue to be driven by relatively high product inflation and our own market outperformance. Whilst the market continues to be in slight decline, our organic development strategy has yielded further gains in like-for-like market share in both our merchanting and retail divisions. In addition, we added a further 32 branches before taking account of the sale of 29 Buck and Hickman branches in the third quarter of this year, bringing the total number trading to 1,841.
Total turnover for BSS for the first nine months of 2011 was up by 3.1%; like-for-like turnover per trading day was up 2.3 %. Like-for-like turnover per trading day for the three months to 30 September increased by 2.6%.
In Wickes, delivered turnover for the 39 week trading period to 1 October was up 1.2% with like-for-like delivered sales down by 0.5%. Core product like-for-like sales, representing some 80% of turnover, increased by 2.7%. Kitchen and bathroom delivered sales were down 12.4%. For the last thirteen weeks total like-for-like delivered sales were down 2%.
Gross margins were in line with the performance of the first six months, slightly ahead of last year in BSS and the retail division and slightly lower in merchanting.
Chief executive Geoff Cooper said: “We continue to take market share against a tough market backdrop, confirming the sustainable strength of our organic growth strategy. Our positive merchanting and BSS performance is balancing the effect of a challenging consumer environment for our retail business’.
