Travis Perkins gives coronavirus trading update
Travis Perkins has given a coronavirus trading update as it released its first quarter results.
The group’s like-for-like sales at its retail business climbed by 4.5% in the three month period ending 31 March. However, the Wickes owner said like-for-like sales declined by 3.8% across its wider business after sales within its merchanting and plumbing and heating divisions both fell.
Since the deepening of the coronavirus crisis in late March, the group has been running a “service-light” operating model which focuses on serving customers through remote, non-contact channels.
In the early weeks of the lockdown period, only around a third Travis Perkins’ merchanting branches and around half of all plumbing and heating branches were in operation, although from 20 April a number of merchanting branches have been re-opening.
In contrast, Wickes and Toolstation have managed to keep most of their branches open throughout lockdown, but Wickes’ kitchen and bathroom service has remained closed.
In the first three weeks of April, the group’s total revenue was approximately one-third of the same period in 2019.
Nick Roberts, Travis Perkins chief executive, said: “In light of the covid-19 emergency, we have established a new operating model that has kept colleagues and customers safe, operating within government guidelines, and enabling branches across all of the group’s businesses to remain open.
“We continue to adapt our operations, applying stringent social distancing and using technology to enable contactless operations, and we are therefore able to respond to the government’s call to ensure that the construction industry can continue to deliver on crucial programmes and projects and be an engine for future economic recovery.”
