Builders' merchant Travis Perkins delivered a resilient first-half performance considering that the trading period included three of the wettest months on record. Stripping out exceptional credits of £35.3m, which boosted the reported figures in our table, and underlying operating profits rose 2 per cent to £143m. Moreover, chief executive Geoff Cooper reckons that profits would have been £10m higher with normal weather conditions.
Profits were underpinned by an expanded branch network, which included stores acquired from the defunct Focus chain, further cost savings from the BSS acquisition and the inclusion of profits from Toolstation for the first time. These additions have proved timely because with overall market volumes down 5 per cent year-on-year, Travis Perkins' like-for-like sales fell by 0.7 per cent in the six-month period. The group's plumbing and heating division suffered and the retail chain Wickes saw a marked contraction in big-ticket item sales, but strict cost controls and improvements in the supply chain meant that operating margins rose on the general and specialist merchanting side.
Broker Peel Hunt is forecasting full-year adjusted pre-tax profits of £310m, EPS of 96.9p and a 25p a share dividend (2011: £297m/93.1p/20p).
| TRAVIS PERKINS (TPK) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 982p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.4bn | |
| TOUCH: | 981-983p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,129p | LOW: 675p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.2% | PE RATIO: | 9 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 907p* | NET DEBT: | 25% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2.35 | 129 | 43.1 | 6.5 |
| 2012 | 2.41 | 162 | 57.3 | 8.0 |
| % change | +3 | +26 | +33 | +23 |
Ex-div:10 Oct Payment:12 Nov *Includes intangible assets of £2.24bn, or 918p a share | ||||
