Travis Perkins Q3 sales rise, FY profit seen in line

Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins posted a rise in third-quarter sales on Thursday as it said full-year operating profit was set to come in around the middle of the current range of market expectations.

In the three months to 30 September, total sales grew 10.7%, or 7.4% on a like-for-like basis. Travis Perkins said this was a "resilient" trading performance.

The merchanting businesses continue to outperform their markets, with total sales growth of 11.5% and the trading performance remaining consistent throughout the quarter.

Travis Perkins General Merchant, the UK’s largest distributor of building materials, saw some slowing of demand in the smaller trade customer segment, but demand from larger repair and maintenance contractors held up well.

Toolstation returned to growth, meanwhile, with total sales up 6.1% and LFL sales 0.2% higher year-on-year. The trend improved throughout the quarter, as customers responded positively to the new catalogue in September, the company said.

The European business continues to progress well, it added, with total sales growth of 23.3% in Q3, and Toolstation remains on track to roll out around 80 new branches in 2022, split equally across the UK and Europe.

"Whilst forward visibility is limited, reflecting the uncertain macroeconomic situation, the group expects to build on the current resilient performance and deliver a full year operating profit around the middle of the current range of market expectations," it said. The range of expectations is between £304m and £340m.

Chief executive Nick Roberts said: "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."