TRAILBLAZERS
OPERATING MARGIN GROWTH: SPECTACULAR!
1. UK Plumbing Supplies 2. Grafton Merchanting GB 3. John A Stephens 4. MGM Timber 5. Kent Blaxill
6. Haldane Shiells 7. Frank Key
8. Alsford Timber 9. Williams
10. Bradford & Sons 11. AW Champion 12. Covers 13. LBS
14. James Burrell 15. Carver 16. IBMG
17. Howarth Timber Supplies 18. Lawsons 19. Crossling 20. Paintwell 21. Elliott Bros 22. Kellaway
23. James Hargreaves 24. John Nicholls 25. MKM
26. Robert Pochin 27. Turnbull
28. Beesley & Fildes 29. Joseph Parr 30. Beatsons 31. Browns
32. Robert Price & Sons 33. J T Dove
34. Myers Building Supplies 35. MP Moran 36. Lords
37. C&W Berry
38. Builder Depot 39. Sydenhams 40. Walter Tipper
41. Beggs & Partners 42. Huws Gray 43. JT Atkinson 44. Markovitz 45. Brewer
46. EH Smith 47. AW Lumb
48. Grant & Stone 49. CRS
50. Travis Perkins 51. Boys & Boden 52. Wolseley UK
53. Stark/Saint Gobain 54. RGB
55. Parker Building Supplies 56. Nicholls & Clarke
57. National Timber Group 58. Highbourne
635.4% 593.0% 204.3% 122.8% 109.5% 98.4% 93.0% 80.8% 75.4% 74.5% 72.1% 69.2% 68.1% 68.1% 55.6% 50.0% 48.3% 46.5% 45.0% 44.1% 43.4% 42.8% 38.9% 38.5% 35.1% 35.0% 34.4% 33.8% 33.2% 31.2% 30.8% 29.8% 28.4% 27.2% 27.1% 23.7% 23.0% 16.2% 13.6% 12.6% 9.5% 7.4% 4.5% -0.1% -0.3% -5.1% -8.3% -22.1% -33.3% -93.9% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
SALES PER HEAD: HOW MUCH IS INFLATIONARY?
1. Browns 2. Lords
3. EH Smith
4. Wolseley UK 5. Highbourne 6. Builder Depot 7. Robert POchin 8. James Burrell 9. MKM
10. MGM Timber
11. UK Plumbing Supplies 12. Williams
13. James Hargreaves
14. Grafton Merchanting GB 15. John Nicholls 16. CRS
17. Parker Building Supplies 18. Joseph Parr
19. Beggs & Partners 20. Turnbull
21. Elliott Bros
22. Grant & Stone 23. Beatsons 24. Huws Gray 25. AW Lumb 26. Markovitz 27. J T Dove
28. JT Atkinson 29. C&W Berry 30. Carver
31. John A Stephens 32. Haldane Shiells
33. Howarth Timber Supplies 34. Kellaway 35. Crossling
36. Myers Building Supplies 37. Stark/Saint Gobain 38. MP Moran
39. Travis Perkins 40. Lawsons
41. Alsford Timber 42. Bradford & Sons 43. Covers
44. National Timber Group 45. Sydenhams 46. Walter Tipper
47. Robert Price & Sons 48. LBS
49. Beesley & Fildes 50. AW Champion 51. Boys & Boden 52. Kent Blaxill 53. RGB 54. IBMG
55. Brewer 56. Frank Key
57. Nicholls & Clarke 58. Paintwell
£573k £569k £411k £386k £374k £372k £352k £351k £349k £338k £332k £332k £327k £312k £305k £304k £302k £293k £291k £290k £283k £281k £278k £278k £271k £269k £268k £264k £264k £262k £256k £255k £254k £254k £250k £247k £246k £245k £244k £241k £240k £236k £221k £221k £217k £216k £206k £200k £191k £187k £186k £181k £173k £170k £162k £151k £125k £123k
April 2023 A supplement to builders merchants journal
LEAGUE TABLES
Operating margin growth
If we regard operating margin as a key ratio – which we do – then it follows that the average annual growth rate in this ratio must be equally important. This year’s indicated industry average year-on-year growth in operating margin (dropping the top and bottom five of course) was a pretty spectacular 40.4 percentage points. Three years ago, pre- pandemic, the comparable figure was minus 8.8 percentage points. Inflation and increased efficiency mean that 2021 was clearly a good time to be a builders merchant - is this likely to continue to be the case?
Sales per head
Applying BMJ’s usual ‘exclude the top and bottom five’ policy, and this table suggests an industry average sales per head figure of £265.2k. Three years ago, the comparable figure was £227.3k – which seems to indicate an upward trend. The unknown, of course, is how much of that is attributable to a genuine rise in average productivity, and how much is simply the effect of price inflation. But a very rough comparison of industry headcount three years ago with the current figures suggests that builders merchants are currently employing about 12% more people than they were in 2020. That’s a lot lower than the rise in sales – so while we can’t say for sure that average productivity is on the rise, there are pretty strong indicators that it actually is.
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