Travis Perkins revenues drop two-thirds in April

Building materials distributor Travis Perkins said on Tuesday that revenues were down by two-thirds thus far in April as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While Travis Perkins, which shuttered all of its storefronts on 23 March following Downing Street's lockdown instructions, continued to offer services to essential construction programmes such as the Nightingale hospital network and national infrastructure maintenance, group sales were also down 5% in March due to its "service-light" model.

The FTSE 250-listed firm also said half of its staff had been furloughed for the first three weeks of the lockdown, while senior management was taking a 20% pay cut for the three months ending July in order to help stem losses.

Travis Perkins added that a business rates holiday would save it roughly £90m a year, while cash outflow in the first month of closures was £50m. However, the group anticipates that figure will drop over the coming weeks.

As of 24 April, Travis Perkins had £522m in the bank, £400m of which came from a fully-drawn revolving credit facility.

Going forward, Travis Perkins said: "Given the ongoing, considerable level of uncertainty, the group is unable to provide an accurate assessment on trading and withdrew market guidance on 20 March 2020.

"Whilst the uncertainty continues with respect to both the duration of the lockdown period and the eventual shape of the UK economic recovery, the group remains focused on near-term actions to maintain the safety and welfare of its colleagues, customers and suppliers, and to promote safe practices which can enable more construction work to recommence."

As of 0815 BST, Travis Perkins shares were up 1.67% at 1,037p.