Travis Perkins building up better growth

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

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 whilst compe- titive pressures intensified at Wickes.

Analysts were comfortable with the update yesterday and said the Northampton-based company continued to outperform its rivals in tough market conditions.

Andy Brown, an analyst at Panmure Gordon stockbrokers, 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 it 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 558m 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 currently operates from 439 branches in the UK, generated revenues of 1.35bn and profits of 49.6m in the year to March 31.

The deal is the largest undertaken by Travis since the 950m takeover of the Wickes DIY chain in 2005.