Travis Perkins holds guidance despite weaker housing market

Builders merchant Travis Perkins held annual guidance despite a tough first quarter as the house building market stalled and property renovation and maintenance was deferred.

The company, which also supplies large infrastructure projects, said merchanting sales price inflation moderated from the second half of 2022 but remained elevated at 9%, driven by the rollover of price increases from prior year but also reflective of pass-through of further manufacturer increases on some key product lines in 2023.

Overall, merchanting total sales were down by 4.7% in the quarter.

“Longer term social and economic infrastructure projects continue as planned across areas such as social housing, road, rail, schools and hospitals with investment in these strategically important markets largely underpinned by legislation and regulation, which continue to evolve at pace,” the company said.

Travis said it expects to post annual adjusted operating profit of £272m, according to its own compilation analyst forecasts, down 8% year on year.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com