Travis Perkins reveals it axed 400 jobs and closed branches to slash costs

Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins has revealed it axed 400 jobs and shut 19 branches at the end of last year as a slowdown in the construction sector hit its bottom line.
By Greg Wright
Published 28th Feb 2023, 10:43 BST

The group, which owns the Toolstation chain, said it was forced to take some “difficult decisions” to slash costs by £25m this year. It closed 19 branches in its general merchant and Benchmarx divisions in the final quarter of 2022, with 400 jobs being lost due to the site closures and across central support functions. The group employed around 20,000 people in total and had about 1,500 branches before the latest cuts.

The details came as Travis Perkins reported a 20 per cent tumble in pre-tax profits to £245m for 2022, sending shares down in morning trading on Tuesday.

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It said it was impacted by woes in the housing market amid economic uncertainty as well as surging cost inflation. Travis Perkins said: “With the expectation of lower levels of activity in the UK construction sector in the year ahead, management implemented a number of cost reduction actions in the fourth quarter of 2022 to ensure that the group’s cost base appropriately reflects the trading environment.

Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins has revealed it axed 400 jobs and shut 19 branches at the end of last year as a slowdown in the construction sector hit its bottom line.Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins has revealed it axed 400 jobs and shut 19 branches at the end of last year as a slowdown in the construction sector hit its bottom line.
Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins has revealed it axed 400 jobs and shut 19 branches at the end of last year as a slowdown in the construction sector hit its bottom line.

“These changes represent an acceleration of plans to modernise the business by exiting smaller branches and continuing to invest in larger, more capable, destination branches which incorporate value-added services such as hire and kitchen showrooms.”

The group is expecting the wider construction market to plunge by “the mid to high single digit” range in 2023, with the residential, new build homes sector being among the worst impacted by the woes.

It also warned over more cost pressures over the year ahead, with inflation running at mid to high single digit levels, marking a slight easing, but “no notable deflation in manufactured products” expected.

Related topics:Travis Perkins