Travis Perkins has posted a 25% growth in first half pre-tax profits to £140m.
Group sales increased 54% to £2.34bn and were up 7.2% on a like-for-like basis.
The merchanting division’s turnover grew by 11.1% year-on-year with a strong performance from both yard and direct to site sales. The Royal wedding reduced sales by 1.1%, but like-for-like sales per trading day increased by 10.7% on a year ago which Travis Perkins said represented a 6% outperformance of the market.
The division posted earnings before synergies, interest and taxation of £96m (2010: £95m) and an operating margin of 8.5% – 0.8% lower than last year. Branches in the south-east were the standout performers.
Revenue at Wickes increased by 2%, with core sales up by 4.1% and kitchen and bathroom big ticket items down by 13.2%.
“The difficult market backdrop conditions will continue to put pressure on weaker competitors and will lead to further consolidation in our markets, particularly in merchanting,” said chief executive Geoff Cooper.
