Wickes boosted by increase in retail revenue
Wickes has reported a 1.8% increase in group revenue to £738.9 million in its second half.
In the six months to 28 December, the home improvement retailer saw its retail revenue rise by 3% to £579.1 million, with a like-for-like uplift of 2.6%, after its interior paint, decorative accessories and garden project categories performed particularly well. However, DIY sales remained in moderate decline as customers continued to focus on smaller projects.
Within retail, Wickes’ TradePro business increased its sales by 14% year-on-year as the number of active TradePro members grew by 19% to 581,000.
Meanwhile, design and installation revenue fell by 2.5% to £159.7 million in the period, although there was a like-for-like improvement in delivered sales from -13.3% in the third quarter to -3.1% in the fourth.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Wickes now expects its full year adjusted pre-tax profit to come in towards the upper end of a £39.7 million to £44 million consensus forecast range.
David Wood, chief executive of Wickes, said: “Wickes’ differentiated model continues to deliver. We’ve grown sales and volumes in retail, and TradePro had yet another period of double-digit sales growth, as local tradespeople continue to choose us to save them time and money.
“Meanwhile, measures we took to improve our offer in Design & Installation have enabled us to return to ordered sales growth.
“We expect to deliver FY24 profit towards the upper end of the forecast range and looking to the year ahead we are well positioned to outperform the market as we continue to invest in our strategic growth levers.”
