Travis Perkins reports strong first quarter sales growth
Travis Perkins, the owner of DIY chain Wickes, has said that its financial year has started in line with expectations after seeing strong sales growth in its first quarter.
In the 13 weeks to 29 March 2014, like-for-like sales climbed by 6.9% at its consumer division which includes Wickes and Toolstation. Total sales increased by 9%.
Travis Perkins said the positive momentum built in 2013 had continued into 2014 although the sales growth was partly a result of very weak comparatives with the same period last year when unseasonably cold weather affected much of the country.
While the Wickes core proposition achieved strong sales growth, its kitchen and bathroom categories were impacted by significant promotional activity in the market, the group said.
Never Miss a Retail Update!During the period, the group opened 39 new stores and branches, including 34 implants where Toolstation and Benchmarx operations were opened inside existing Wickes and Travis Perkins branches. In addition, Travis Perkins said its retail customers were now benefiting from a new online platform for Wickes which supports the rollout of click & collect.
Across the wider Travis Perkins group, which includes general merchanting, plumbing and heating, and contracting divisions, first quarter like-for-like sales rose by 12.7% with total sales climbing 15.6%.
Travis Perkins chief executive John Carter said: “All of our businesses recorded strong sales growth in the first quarter of 2014 and lead indicators for our different markets are encouraging and performing and we remain on course to meet our targets set out in February.
“We are confident that the plans we have in place will support our drive to outperform our markets, improve earnings and ultimately increase return on capital. Our priorities remain to accelerate innovation of our customer propositions, expand and optimise our property network, exploit our scale advantage and prioritise investments throughout the portfolio.”
