TRAILBLAZERS Net margin
Net margin matters a great deal to a handful of these companies, because they have a share price to protect, shareholders to satisfy, and city analysts to worry about. At 4.5%, Travis Perkins was bang on the sector average, whereas Wolseley UK was off the pace at 3.7%, as were GMGB (2.2%) and Jewson (0.7%). In other words, independent merchant businesses out-perform the big four – and in some cases, by a considerable distance. For the vast majority, however, net margin is probably less important than a number of other trading ratios.
That said, it’s worth making the point that a market where 48 of the top 51 companies were profitable at net level in their latest financial period is a very healthy market indeed. Now is indeed a good time to be a builders merchant!
Sales per head
This is another of the tables which causes as much confusion as clarity. Why do some merchants achieve staff productivity of £300k or more, when others barely reach half that figure?
Why is the market leader, where the opportunities for economies of scale surely ought to be much greater than its rivals, such a middle-ranking performer in this measure? And what exactly is it that AW Lumb knows about productivity which seems to elude all the competition?
FINANCIAL TABLES NET MARGIN:
INDEPENDENTS AHEAD 1. Huws Gray
2. MP Moran
3. Beggs & Partners 4. Grant & Stone 5. Sydenhams 6. C&W Berry 7. Lawsons
8. JT Atkinson 9. Beatsons
10. Rembrand Timber 11. AW Lumb
12. James Hargreaves 13. Walter Tipper 14. HPS
15. Crossling
16. John A Stephens 17. Covers
18. MGM Timber 19. Joseph Parr
20. Rawle Gammon & Baker 21. LBS
22. Chandlers
23. Travis Perkins 24. J T Dove 25. Williams
26. Haldane Shiells
27. Robert Price & Sons 28. Beesley & Fildes 29. Wolseley UK 30. Elliott Bros 31. Lords
32. Alsford Timber 33. Kellaway 34. Ridgeons 35. Carver
36. Frank Key 37. Kent Blaxill 38. Markovitz
39. Howarth Timber Supplies 40. Builder Depot 41. Boys & Boden 42 John Nicholls
43. Grafton Merchanting GB 44. AW Champion
45. Myers Building Supplies 46. James Burrell 47. EH Smith
48. Nicholls & Clarke 49. Jewson
50. Parker Building Supplies 51. Bradford & Sons 52. MKM
13.8% 12.9% 9.5% 8.9% 8.5% 8.1% 7.7% 7.6% 7.6% 7.5% 7.0% 6.9% 6.5% 6.4% 6.0% 5.7% 5.4% 5.1% 5.0% 5.0% 4.9% 4.7% 4.5% 4.3% 4.1% 4.0% 3.8% 3.8% 3.7% 3.7% 3.6% 3.3% 3.0% 2.9% 2.9% 2.8% 2.7% 2.7% 2.5% 2.5% 2.4% 2.2% 2.2% 1.9% 1.9% 1.7% 1.6% 1.0% 0.7%
-0.2% -1.2% -1.9%
SALES PER HEAD: HUGE VARIATIONS
1. AW Lumb 2. HPS
3. EH Smith
4. James Burrell 5. Wolseley UK 6. Williams
7. Builder Depot 8. MKM
9. Beggs & Partners 10. James Hargreaves 11. Grant & Stone 12. Elliott Bros 13. Lords
14. Joseph Parr
15. Grafton Merchanting GB 16. Chandlers
17. MGM Timber 18. John Nicholls 19. John A Stephens
20. Parker Building Supplies 21. Huws Gray
22. Travis Perkins 23. MP Moran 24. J T Dove 25. Beatsons 26. Carver 27. Jewson 28. Ridgeons
29. Walter Tipper 30. Kellaway
31. Haldane Shiells 32. Lawsons
33. Rawle Gammon & Baker 34. C&W Berry 35. Crossling 36. Markovitz 37. JT Atkinson
38. Alsford Timber
39. Howarth Timber Supplies 40. Myers Building Supplies 41. Rembrand Timber 42. Covers 43. LBS
44. Sydenhams
45. Robert Price & Sons 46. Kent Blaxill 47 Boys & Boden 48 Bradford & Sons 49. Frank Key
50. AW Champion 51. Beesley & Fildes 52. Nicholls & Clarke
£649.0k £326.4k £314.8k £310.5k £308.3k £308.1k £288.7k £284.9k £270.0k £264.6k £261.4k £259.5k £255.3k £252.4k £248.9k £246.8k £246.2k £242.1k £239.7k £235.5k £233.6k £231.8k £223.5k £217.7k £214.9k £211.8k £211.1k £209.2k £208.9k £206.8k £206.5k £206.3k £205.3k £202.2k £201.5k £200.3k £199.6k £198.2k £196.3k £189.5k £182.9k £178.1k £173.2k £167.7k £167.6k £161.5k £154.0k £153.3k £139.6k £135.1k £131.3k £119.4k
April 2019 A supplement to builders merchants journal
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