Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins says it has delivered “a resilient first quarter trading performance” despite total sales declining by 2.8% amid challenging market conditions.
The Northampton-headquartered company highlighted that trading volumes in the Merchanting business were impacted by weakness in the new build housing and domestic repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) markets.
The commercial, industrial and public sector markets, which represent just under half of the group’s end market exposure, saw more resilient demand. Overall, Merchanting total sales were down by 4.7% in the quarter.
Nick Roberts, Chief Executive, said: “As we had anticipated, trading conditions were challenging in the first quarter but our diverse exposure across the construction sector has enabled us to deliver a resilient performance. The timely actions taken to prepare our businesses for a lower demand environment mean that we continue to expect to deliver a full year performance in line with market expectations.
“We are focused on ensuring the right balance between cost and capital discipline and investing to deliver against our strategic priorities. The growth opportunities provided by the need to decarbonise the UK’s built environment, improve the energy efficiency of public and private buildings and increase the UK’s housing stock remain significant.
“Allied to our strategy of expanding value-added services in the Merchant businesses and maximising the growth potential of Toolstation, these structural drivers leave the group well placed for future outperformance.”
