TRAILBLAZERS
GROSS MARGIN GROWTH: OR MAYBE NOT 1. EH Smith
2. James Burrell
3. Parker Building Supplies 4. Bradford & Sons 5. CRS
6. Walter Tipper
7. Beesley & Fildes 8. Frank Key 9. Elliott Bros 10. Williams
11. Robert Price 12.JT Dove 13. Markovitz
14.Covers
15. AW Lumb
16. John A Stephens 17. Chandlers 18.HPS
19. Rembrand Timber 20. Lawsons 21. Ridgeons 22. Beatsons
23. Haldane Shiells 24. Howarth Timber 25. John Nicholls 26. Crossling
27. Grafton Merchanting GB 28. LBS
29.Myers Building Supplies 30. James Hargreaves
31.MKM
32. AW Champion 33. JT Atkinson 34.C&W Berry 35.RGB
36. Alsford Timber 37. Sydenhams 38. Joseph Parr 39. Kellaway
40.Huws Gray
41. Travis Perkins
42. Nicholls & Clarke 43. Builder Depot 44.Wolseley UK 45. Carver
46. Kent Blaxill
47.Beggs & Partners
48.MGM Timber
49.MP Moran
50. Grant & Stone 51. Jewson 52. Lords
53. Browns
14.8% 7.7% 5.3% 5.1% 4.3% 4.2% 3.6% 3.0% 2.1% 2.0% 1.4% 1.3% 1.3% 1.3% 1.1% 0.8% 0.7% 0.4%
-0.1% -0.2% -0.3% -0.3% -0.5% -0.5% -0.6% -0.8% -0.8% -1.0% -1.0% -1.1% -1.2% -1.8% -1.9% -2.0% -2.2% -2.3% -2.4% -3.0% -3.4% -3.4% -3.4% -3.7% -4.0% -4.0% -4.6% -4.8% -5.1% -6.7% -7.6% -7.7% -9.4%
-10.5% -12.3%
OPERATING MARGIN: A HEALTHY INDICATOR 1. Beesley & Fildes 2. Huws Gray 3. JT Atkinson 4. C&W Berry 5. Lawsons
6. Sydenhams 7. MKM
8. MP Moran
9. James Hargreaves
10.Walter Tipper 11. Grant & Stone 12. AW Lumb
13. Robert Price
14.Beggs & Partners 15. LBS
16.Covers 17.HPS
18. Rembrand Timber 19. Crossling 20. Beatsons
21.CRS
22. Chandlers 23.JT Dove
24.MGM Timber 25. Joseph Parr 26.RGB
27. Haldane Shiells 28. Elliott Bros
29. John A Stephens 30. Kent Blaxill 31. Williams
32. John Nicholls
33.Myers Building Supplies 34. Browns
35. Markovitz
36. AW Champion 37. Alsford Timber 38. James Burrell 39. EH Smith 40. Kellaway 41. Carver
42. Grafton Merchanting GB 43. Frank Key
44. Builder Depot 45. Lords
46. Howarth Timber
47.Parker Building Supplies 48. Ridgeons
49. Travis Perkins 50.Wolseley UK 51. Jewson
52. Nicholls & Clarke 53. Bradford & Sons
13.0 12.1 8.4 8.1 7.9 7.6 7.5 7.2 6.7 6.6 6.5 6.2 6.1 6.0 5.7 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.3 5.0 5.0 4.8 4.4 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.0 3.8 3.7 3.4 3.3 3.1 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.2 0.9 0.1
-0.3 -0.4 -0.6 -4.2 -7.6
April 2020 A supplement to builders merchants journal
OPERATING MARGIN GROWTH: NOT SO BUOYANT 1. Beesley & Fildes 2. Huws Gray 3. C&W Berry 4. JT Atkinson 5. Lawsons
6. Sydenhams 7. Robert Price 8. MP Moran
9. James Hargreaves 10. Grant & Stone
11.Beggs & Partners
12.Walter Tipper 13. AW Lumb
14.MKM 15. LBS 16.HPS
17. Crossling
18.Covers
19.CRS
20. Beatsons 21. Chandlers
22.MGM Timber 23.JT Dove
24. Joseph Parr
25. John A Stephens 26. Haldane Shiells 27.RGB
28.Wolseley UK 29. Elliott Bros 30. Kent Blaxill 31. Williams
32. John Nicholls 33. AW Champion
34. Grafton Merchanting GB 35. Markovitz
36. Alsford Timber 37. Carver
38. Rembrand Timber
39.Myers Building Supplies 40. Browns 41. Ridgeons 42. EH Smith
43. Builder Depot 44. James Burrell 45. Frank Key 46. Kellaway 47. Lords
48.Parker Building Supplies 49. Howarth Timber Supplies 50. Travis Perkins
51. Nicholls & Clarke 52. Bradford & Sons 53. Jewson
LEAGUE TABLES
12.5 11.6 8.3 8.0 7.7 7.5 7.1 7.0 6.7 6.5 6.4 6.3 6.2 6.2 5.8 5.5 5.5 5.4 4.9 4.8 4.6 4.3 4.1 4.1 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.3 3.1 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.1 2.1 2.1 1.5 1.5 0.9 0.6 0.5
-0.7 -4.2 -7.9
-14.5
Gross margin growth The other side of the gross margin story. Only 18 of the 53 merchants listed in Trailblazers managed to improve gross margins in the latest reporting period. 35 of them – that’s two-thirds – reported gross margins declining. In quite a few cases we’re talking about a decline of less than 1%, but a decline is a decline however you look at it. And this isn’t a sudden trend, either: in our 2019 survey only 15 merchants out of 51 reported a rise in gross margin – 70% reported a fall. A year before that in 2018, it was 24 out of 49 (49%) reporting a fall. And although it’s a decade since the 2008 crash and its aftermath, we suspect that most merchants are still running on a tighter cost base than they were before the crash – so when gross margins fall, it’s harder to save on operating costs further down the line.
Operating margin Another table which looks pretty upbeat: 53 merchants listed, and in the last reporting period no fewer than 48 of them were profitable at operating level. Beesley & Fildes and Huws Gray actually managed to achieve a double-digit operating margin, which would be impressive in pretty well any industry; JT Atkinson, C&W Berry, Lawsons, Sydenhams, MKM and MP Moran were all very healthy too. In fact approximately half of all the merchants covered by the Trail Blazers survey showed an operating margin of 4% or better. This would be a good set of figures to share with your bank, investors and shareholders, to show the fundamental soundness of the merchant market – always assuming, of course, that your own figures are at least on a par with these others.
Operating margin growth And then there’s the downside again. Yes, the overwhelming majority of the Trailblazers merchants were profitable at operating level in their latest reporting period – but for most of them, the operating margin was lower than it was a year ago. 17 of the 53 companies listed here recorded an improvement in operating margin, against 31 that didn’t. In fairness, it should be added that MKM returned to an operating profit after recording a loss the previous year; but on the other hand Wolseley, Travis Perkins, Jewson and Bradfords all went from profit to loss. In short, only one-third of the Trailblazers showed an upward trend in operating profit. And that seems to be the story of the market right now: sales are good, demand is strong, but margins are under pressure – and most merchants are struggling to maintain their margin performance.
7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
