Travis Perkins plc has announced its Q3 2022 trading update months to 30 September 2022, and revealed the early findings of its RMI Index – a national survey of 900 UK tradespeople.
The Group reports it delivered “a resilient third quarter trading performance” with total sales growth of 10.7% and like-for-like sales growth of 7.4% (adjusted for trading days). The Merchanting businesses “continue to outperform their markets”, delivering total trading day adjusted sales growth of 11.5% with trading performance remaining consistent throughout the quarter.
Travis Perkins’ General Merchant brand experienced “some slowing of demand through the period in the smaller trade customer segment although demand from larger repair and maintenance contractors held up well”. Representing around 40% of its Merchant segment by revenue, TP’s Specialist merchants (BSS, CCF, Keyline, TF Solutions and Staircraft) were said to have “benefitted from their exposure to predominantly larger subcontractors across new build commercial and housing, industrial maintenance and infrastructure projects to deliver another robust performance during the quarter”.
Toolstation returned to growth with total sales up by 6.1% (adjusted for trading days) and like-for-like sales up 0.2% year-on-year with the trend improving throughout the quarter “supported by a positive response from customers to the new catalogue in September”. The European business continues to progress well, seeing total sales growth of 23.3% in the quarter, and Toolstation remains on track to roll out around 80 new branches in 2022, split equally across the UK and Europe.
Nick Roberts, Chief Executive, said: “The Group has delivered a solid performance during the third quarter with the Merchanting businesses again outperforming their markets and an improved performance in Toolstation. We continue to benefit from our diverse end market exposure from small independent builders through to large contractors delivering national infrastructure projects.
“During the second half of the year we have seen growing macroeconomic uncertainty. We are focused on maintaining cost discipline in our businesses and the actions taken to simplify our operating structure in recent years have created the flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions.”
He added: “All of our businesses see opportunities to further develop their propositions to meet our different customers’ needs, as they seek to navigate an increasingly complex construction landscape, characterised by new environmental and safety legislation and a commitment to deliver against net zero targets. We remain confident that our market-leading businesses, backed by focused capital allocation, a strong balance sheet and significant strategic growth opportunities, leave us well placed to outperform in our markets.”
Travis Perkins has also released the “early findings” of its latest RMI Index survey of UK tradespeople:
Detailing the feedback from a national survey of nearly 900 UK tradespeople, Travis Perkins has revealed that the majority remain optimistic about near-term prospects with 78% of respondents believing their workloads will “increase or remain the same over the next two months.”
In line with the wider economic decline, the outlook for workloads is down from 93% of respondents to the firm’s previous RMI Index Report published in May, and down from 89% a year ago.
Providing a snapshot of the nation’s tradespeople – including builders, plumbers, painters & decorators and kitchen fitters – the survey also showed respondents are concerned about rising costs of materials and the uncertainty surrounding fuels bills and rising inflation, which in turn is causing their own customers to be more cautious.
However, eight in ten (82%) of respondents still expect their materials purchasing requirements to increase or stay the same in the next two months. Despite economic uncertainty and in light of rising energy prices, 59% of respondents revealed that they are frequently or sometimes asked about energy efficient product choices, with customers focusing on insulation (43%), lighting (43%) and heating renewables (36%).
This survey is the fifth publication of Travis Perkins’ RMI Index following the inaugural report published in August 2020. The full report will be available on the company’s website in due course.
