Travis Perkins on track after picking up market share

Wickes owner Travis Perkins yesterday claimed it had picked up market share after a 6 per cent rise in turnover over the first nine months of this year.

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

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, while competitive pressures intensified at Wickes.

Analysts appeared comfortable with the update and said the firm, which has its headquarters in Northampton, continued to outperform its rivals in tough market conditions.

Panmure Gordon analyst James Cooke 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 per cent on a like-for-like basis in the first nine months of the year, accelerating to 10.3 per cent in the third quarter. At Wickes, the same measure of turnover showed a fall of 0.1 per cent after growth of 0.6 per cent 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, the firm 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 operates from 439 branches in the UK, generated revenues of 1.35 billion and profits of 49.6m in the year to 31 March.