LEAGUE TABLES
STOCKTURN GROWTH – OR LACK OF IT
1. Lords+B618A597A575:B589 2. Bradford & Sons 3. EH Smith 4. Carver
5. Wolseley UK 6. Robert Pochin 7. Kellaway
8. James Hargreaves 9. Alsford Timber 10. JT Atkinson
11. Howarth Timber Supplies 12. LBS
13. Walter Tipper 14. Markovitz
15. Builder Depot 16. Haldane Shiells 17. Covers 18. MKM
19. Travis Perkins 20. John A Stephens 21. Brewer 22. Lawsons
23. Beesley & Fildes 24. MP Moran 25. Huws Gray
26. James Burrell 27. AW Lumb 28. C&W Berry 29. Turnbull
30. Grafton Merchanting GB 31. Elliott Bros
32. Parker Building Supplies 33. Beggs & Partners 34. RGB
35. Frank Key 36. Sydenhams 37. Williams
38. Kent Blaxill 39. AW Champion 40. Joseph Parr 41. J T Dove
42. Robert Price & Sons 43. John Nicholls
44. UK Plumbing Supplies 45. Browns 46. Beatsons 47. Crossling
48. Myers Building Supplies 49. Arnold Laver
237 37 22 21 15 8 6 5 5 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 0
(0) (2) (5) (5) (5) (6) (6) (6) (7) (7)
(10) (10) (10) (10) (11) (11) (13) (13) (14) (16) (17) (17) (17) (18) (19) (19) (20) (21) (24) (27) (27) (28)
50. National Timber Group Scotland (31) 51. CRS
52. Saint-Gobain 53. MGM Timber 54. Grant & Stone
(56) n/a n/a n/a
GROSS MARGIN: THE AVERAGE IS UP
1. AW Champion 2. Sydenhams 3. Lawsons
4. Alsford Timber 5. MP Moran 6. Frank Key 7. Beatsons 8. Huws Gray 9. CRS
10. Covers 11. LBS
12. Walter Tipper 13. RGB
14. Bradford & Sons 15. Kent Blaxill
16. Robert Price & Sons 17. JT Atkinson 18. Grant & Stone
46.7 43.1 38.0 37.9 37.3 37.1 36.7 36.4 36.1 35.7 34.9 34.1 32.6 32.2 31.9 31.4 31.4 31.0
19. National Timber Group Scotland 31.0 20. John A Stephens
21. Howarth Timber Supplies 22. Haldane Shiells 23. J T Dove
24. Builder Depot 25. Joseph Parr 26. Travis Perkins
27. Myers Building Supplies 28. UK Plumbing Supplies 29. MKM
30. John Nicholls 31. Arnold Laver 32. Turnbull 33. Carver
34. Parker Building Supplies 35. Crossling 36. EH Smith
37. James Hargreaves 38. MGM Timber
39. Beggs & Partners
40. Grafton Merchanting GB 41. Markovitz 42. Williams
43. Wolseley UK 44. Kellaway
45. Beesley & Fildes 46. James Burrell 47. Elliott Bros 48. Lords
49. Robert Pochin 50. C&W Berry 51. Browns
52. AW Lumb
53. Saint-Gobain 54. Brewer
30.9 30.7 30.6 30.6 30.3 29.8 29.7 29.5 29.1 28.4 28.2 27.7 27.4 27.2 26.7 25.9 25.8 25.5 25.4 25.4 25.1 23.8 23.1 22.2 20.6 20.6 20.1 17.1 16.4 16.0 15.1 14.3 13.2 11.9 6.2
April 2022 A supplement to builders merchants journal STOCKTURN GROWTH
Perhaps more than any other this table shows the continuing impact of the pandemic. Unexpected fluctuations in demand coupled with sudden non-availability of certain key products lines and unpredictable delivery lead times combined to make orderly stock management a distant memory. In Trail Blazers 2020 we recorded that 22 merchant businesses saw stockturn up, and 27 saw stockturn down. In 2021 it was 17 up, 30 down, and this year it’s only 12 up compared to 39 down. And as we have always considered stockturn to be one of the key management ratios in the merchant business, the fact that so many merchants are seeing stockturn slowdowns can only be a cause for concern.
We haven’t included Lords in this table, even though it achieved an apparent (and extraordinary) 237% growth in stockturn. In 2018 the group recorded sales of £78m and stocks of £5.8m. In 2019 sales rose 25% to £97.8m, but a group restructuring and the acquisition of APP Wholesale at the year end saw stocks up 600% at £40.7m without the benefit of any of APP’s sales; then in 2020, the first full year of ownership of APP saw sales rocket 194% to £288m while stocks were actually 2% down at £40m. Over three years, the stockturn figure lurched from 9.9 down to 1.8 and back up to 6.0; and while the figures are mathematically correct, our view was that including the headline figure of 237% in this table would not have been helpful.
GROSS MARGIN
When demand exceeds supply – and that’s been a significant element of the merchant market for the much of the past two years – the effect on margins tends to be beneficial. Sure enough, the average gross margin recorded this year is 28.3%, up from 27.8% 12 months earlier. And excluding the outliers (the top five and bottom five in this table), the average has risen from 28.0% to 28.7%. In short, whatever impact the pandemic has had on the merchant business in other respects, it certainly hasn’t hurt gross margins.
TRAILBLAZERS
Source: BMJ analysis of filed company results
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