FINANCIAL TABLES
Travis Perkins maintains merchant market lead
Who’s done what, with how much money and, more importantly, how do they compare with everyone else? The BMJ Financial Tables explained.
T
here are two ways of looking at the League Table of turnover. The obvious one is that once again, it shows that Travis Perkins commands a huge share of the overall UK merchant market; its turnover is more than three times greater than that of second-placed Jewson, and in fact is almost greater than that of Jewson, Wolseley, Grafton, MKM, Bradfords, Huws Gray, Ridgeons, EH Smith, Haldane Shiells, Builder Depot, Lawsons, Howarth Timber, Elliott Bros and Covers combined.
The other way of looking at is this: despite TP’s massive lead over the rest, it represents market leadership but not market dominance. TP accounts for only 44% of the combined sales of all the companies listed in Trail Blazers – and if you factor in the hundreds of smaller merchants not listed here, TP’s true market share is probably less than 40%.
Sales growth
There must be a lot of happy people in the merchant trade. 20 of the 51 companies listed here achieved double-digit sales growth in their most recent financial periods, and a further 27 recorded single-digit growth. Three saw sales decline, and one (AW Lumb) underwent a re-organisation which means that we’re not confident about calculating year-on-year figures. And of course this isn’t a one-off – the merchants listed in Trail Blazers have been showing this kind of growth for several years now. It’s a pretty good time to be a builder merchant.
Staffing levels
In total, the 51 companies listed here employed 62,920 people in their latest financial periods. Leaving out Lords and Beatsons, new to the survey this year, the figure is 62,571. 12 months ago the comparable figure was 59,228; the year before that it was 58,057. Next time you’re talking to your MP, these are the kind of figures you might want to drop into the conversation – just to remind him or her that as well as making it possible for housebuilders and other construction companies to deliver the buildings the country needs, merchants are also creating significant numbers of new jobs.
Operating margin
The pattern here is as with the gross margin: fewer than half the merchants covered by this survey saw their operating margins improve during the latest financial period. This is no doubt a reflection of the pressure on gross margins; but it’s as well to remember that the majority of businesses listed here are not public companies, and they don’t have a share price to protect. With revenues continuing to flow in and demand remaining high, many of them have decided now is the time to invest profits back into the business, in the form of acquisitions, new branches, rebuilding and refurbishments. So while it’s true that half the companies listed saw their operating margins decline – in most cases by double digits – that’s not necessarily bad news.
1. Travis Perkins 2. Jewson
3. Wolseley UK
4. Grafton Merchanting GB 5. MKM
6. Bradford & Sons 7. Huws Gray 8. Ridgeons 9. EH Smith
10. Haldane Shiells 11. Builder Depot 12. Lawsons
13. Howarth Timber Supplies 14. Elliott Bros 15. Covers
16. James Hargreaves 17. Williams
18. JT Atkinson 19. Grant & Stone 20. Sydenhams
21. Rawle Gammon & Baker 22. Nicholls & Clarke
23. Parker Building Supplies 24. Joseph Parr 25. HPS
26. James Burrell 27. MP Moran 28. Lords 29. LBS
30. J T Dove
31. John Nicholls 32. Chandlers 33. Crossling
34. Walter Tipper 35. C&W Berry 36. AW Lumb
37. MGM Timber 38. Alsford Timber
39. Robert Price & Sons 40. Kellaway
41. Kent Blaxill
42. Rembrand Timber 43. Markovitz 44. Carver
45. Beesley & Fildes 46. Beggs & Partners 47. Boys & Boden 48. AW Champion 49. Frank Key
50. Myers Building Supplies 51. John A Stephens 52. Beatsons
TRAILBLAZERS
SALES: TP THE LEADER, BUT NOT DOMINANT
£6,433.1m £1,947.8m £1,768.0m £1,138.6m £332.4m £196.2m £182.7m £175.5m £141.7m £111.7m £104.8m £95.1m £93.1m £77.8m £77.3m £77.3m £73.3m £72.9m £72.2m £70.6m £68.4m £67.8m £66.6m £65.4m £59.4m £59.0m £58.1m £58.0m £55.4m £52.5m £52.0m £51.8m £51.4m £49.7m £48.1m £48.0m £47.3m £47.0m £45.1m £44.5m £39.4m £37.3m £36.1m £33.9m £30.9m £30.2m £29.4m £29.4m £29.2m £27.3m £27.1m £26.2m
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A supplement to builders merchants journal April 2019
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