13th Dec 2007 07:01
Travis Perkins PLC13 December 2007 Travis Perkins PLC13 December 2007 TRAVIS PERKINS PLC Trading update - Increased resilience and business breadth The Group provides the following trading update ahead of the close of itsfinancial year on December 31, 2007: Our business has made excellent progress in the second half of 2007, withcontinued gains in like-for-like market share, an acceleration of networkexpansion, the acquisition of a seventh brand and improved profitability andreturns. In total, group turnover to the end of November was up 12.1% comparedto the equivalent period in 2006. Overall, trading continues to be in line withour expectations with both the merchanting and retailing divisions performingwell. For the first eleven calendar months of 2007, total turnover in our merchantingdivision was up by 13.2%, with like-for-like turnover per trading day up by9.2%. Total turnover in the general merchanting business was up by 12.2% withlike-for-like turnover per trading day up by 9.4%. For this period, ourspecialist merchanting business saw total turnover up by 14.9% and like-for-liketurnover per trading day up by 8.8%. These increases represent gains inlike-for-like, organic and total market share as our businesses are increasinglyrecognised by customers as the best place to get their building materials. In our retail division, trading at Wickes continues to progress in line with ourexpectations. Total turnover for the 48-week trading period ended on December 1was up by 9.4%. For this period, like-for-like sales per trading day were up by5.4% with core products up by 7.7% with showroom sales lower by 5.7%. Ourretailing business has also grown its like-for-like and total market share inthis period, with this rate of gain increasing in the second half. A strategy ofremaining competitive against discounting by some competitors meant that asexpected, retail gross margins are slightly below the comparable period in 2006. In the eleven months to the end of November we expanded our business and nowtrade from 1,119 locations. In this period we added to our network a net 97 newoutlets including 60 new merchant branches (including 18 Benchmarx), 31 TileGiant stores and 6 new Wickes stores, increasing Wickes' gross selling space by6.9%. Our pipeline of further opportunities for network expansion remainsstrong. The Group continues to exercise tight control over costs and operational cashflow remains good. In the last 4 months £52m has been spent on shares for both past and currentshare schemes. This hedging against market movements between the option andexercise price is slightly earnings enhancing in 2008. Going into 2008, the market outlook bears similarities to conditions seen forthe early part of 2005. However, over the last three years, both the competitivestrength of our brands and resilience of the group have been enhanced.Improvements have been achieved in many areas, including the breadth andpositioning of the portfolio, product range and pricing, customer servicelevels, procurement, supply chain and overhead structure. We have prepared our business for more difficult markets in the early part ofnext year, and are confident that our businesses will continue to outperform. Geoff Cooper, Group Chief Executive said; "Whilst we anticipate lower growth in the immediate period ahead we have shownwe can out-perform the competition and expect to continue to take further marketshare." - ends - Enquiries: Geoff Cooper, Chief ExecutiveTravis Perkins PLC Tel: +44 (0)1604 683 222 Paul Hampden Smith, Finance DirectorTravis Perkins PLC Tel: +44 (0)1604 683 111 David Bick/Mike FelthamSquare1 Consulting Limited Tel: +44 (0) 207 929 5599 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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