It has been reported today (22nd October) that DIY retailer Travis Perkins has seen a 2.3% increase in like-for-like sales at its consumer division Wickes.
Other figures show that total sales rose 4.9% regardless of a drop in the market year-on-year, and sales for Wickes saw an improvement in September and continued to improve in early October, whilst other parts of the company also saw an increase of 5.5% such as contracts divisions, general merchanting, plumbing and heating.
John Carter, Travis Perkins chief executive, said: "Our strategy continues to deliver outperformance of the markets in which we operate. Whilst we planned for a modest reduction in RMI markets through the summer given the slowdown in secondary housing transactions towards the end of 2014 and early part of 2015, we saw weaker market demand than anticipated. This was in both housing and non-housing RMI spend as evidenced by the recent construction output data, leading to dampened growth across all of our businesses.”
Travis Perkins has said that its fourth quarter trading has begun positively, however it predicts that 2015 EBITA growth will be at the smaller end of the market.
