Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Builders merchant group Travis Perkins has seen turnover slide by 11% for the nine months to September 26, its interim management statement said this morning.
Like-for-like turnover per trading day was down by 16.3% however.
Total turnover in the general merchanting business was down by 15.9% with like-for-like turnover per trading day down by 16.8%. The specialist merchanting business saw total turnover down by 15% and like-for-like turnover per trading day down by 15.4%.
In Wickes total turnover for the 39 week trading period to 26 September was up 0.7%. Out of this, like-for-like sales per trading day were up by 0.7%, with core products down by 3.0% but showroom sales rose by 20.8% on the back of increased investment in promotion of the kitchen and bathroom showroom business following the demise of MFI. However, for the last thirteen weeks the total like-for-like turnover per day was up by 7.8%.
The group statement said: “These sales trends mean that the Group trading for the last three months is ahead of our expectations. However, our outlook for 2010 remains unchanged from that stated in our June interim results announced in July and therefore, given the current uncertainty over the course of this current recession, our view of the current market consensus for 2010 also remains unchanged.”
