24th Jul 2025 11:36
(Alliance News) - Wickes Group PLC on Thursday said sales growth accelerated in the second quarter of 2025, helped by good weather and the timing of Easter.
Chief Executive David Wood said: "In the first half of the year we have gone from strength to strength, with increased sales and record market share."
"Retail sales have grown again, driven by volumes, as more people shop with us, both in-store and online. In Design & Installation, the actions we took to improve the customer proposition are driving project order volumes and as a result we have returned to sales growth," he added.
In response, shares in Wickes rose 5.5% to 232.66 pence each in London on Thursday. They earlier hit a 52-week high of 236.00p.
The Watford, England-based home improvement retailer said revenue rose 5.6% to GBP847.9 million in the six months that ended June 28, or by 4.5% on a like-for-like basis.
In the second quarter, sales grew 7.7% to GBP471.9 million or by 6.9% LFL, the pace of growth picking up from 3.0% and 1.6% respectively in the first quarter.
Retail sales rose 6.8% in the half-year, including 8.3% growth in the second quarter. In the first quarter, sales in Retail grew 4.9%.
Within Retail, TradePro half-year sales rose 10% year-on-year, with TradePro members up by 14% to 615,000 compared to a year ago.
"This has been a period of strong sales growth for Retail, driven by an increase in volumes while pricing remained broadly stable. In particular, we successfully fulfilled strong customer demand across timber, garden maintenance and decorating, which saw us further increase our market share during the half to record levels," Wickes said in a statement on Thursday.
Second quarter trading was further assisted by the warm spring weather and the timing of Easter, the firm said.
Design & Installation half-year revenue increased 2.1%, with growth of 5.7% in the second quarter. In the first quarter, sales in D&I fell 1.7%.
Wickes plans to open 5 to 7 stores in the rest of 2025, four of which are former Homebase stores.
Wickes said it is well set for a successful 2025.
"While the business continues to face into the significant cost headwinds seen across the retail sector, our ongoing productivity programme and the strong first half performance means that we remain comfortable with current consensus expectations for adjusted pretax profit in 2025," Wickes added.
As at June 11, Wickes said the consensus for adjusted pretax profit in 2025 is GBP48.3 million, with a range of GBP46.7 to GBP51.5 million.
In the financial year to December 28, 2024 Wickes reported adjusted pretax profit of GBP43.6 million.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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