COMMENT


When the going gets tough...


T


he tough get going. (SorryNotSorry for the earworm that’s probably given readers of a certain age). They’ll need to get going because it isn’t just tough out there, it is rough as.... you fill in the blank. I cannot talk about the market as it stands at the moment without mentioning two things: our Trailblazers Supplement, which is published with this issue, And Travis Perkins. When the grim year-end results were published last week, I put my thoughts about them in a blog on our website. It was the most widely-read and shared article since, well, the last time I wrote about their troubles. For years, Travis Perkins was held up as a shining example of how to ‘do merchanting’. Its gross profits were to be envied, even as the rest of the world wondered how it managed to keep them steady. Revenue may have only fallen slightly, and still be over £4bn, but adjusted operating profits were -23% down, and operating profits came in at -98% and pre-tax profits were wiped out, falling 302%. I’m not picking on TP, nor singling them out just because it makes a good story. As journalist, I’m afraid that someone else’s bad news is always good copy. It is a really hard market out there and it is only going to get worse. However, it also has to be said that much of TP’s woe, not, all of it admittedly, it has wrought upon itself.


Contrast the TP results with those of MKM, for the year ending September 30. The fact that the year ends before the confidence-drain of the October Budget may or may not be significant. Anyway, MKM’s sales rose on the back of their expansion, with profitability hampered by, not only the market, but also the fact that new


CONTACTS Builders Merchants Journal


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EDITORIAL


Group Managing Editor: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101 07721 841382 frussell-horne@datateam.co.uk


Assistant editor Will McGill 01622 699185


wmcgill@datateam.co.uk


Production Controller: Nic Mandeville


branches take a while to bed-in and become properly profitable. Travis Perkins also added branches during the year, its true. It also closed some. A lot. £139m from operating profits was accounted for by ‘impairment’ – which includes restructuring and closure of branches and distribution centres.


Interim CEO Geoff Drabble believes that there is the underlying strength in the business to allow it to eventually benefit from returning market demand. A lot of babies were chucked out with the bathwater under the previous leadership, but I am led to believe that there is a different feel about the business now, that there are still good people committed to repairing the damage. All sectors need strong market leaders. Allow me to move onto Trailblazers. Yes, so the figures we show, for the most part, relate to the 2023 financial year, but, let’s face it, those for 2024 aren’t suddenly going to boom. Our BMJ Index score multiplies three significant ratios: year-on-year sales growth, stockturn, and operating profit. Of the 53 companies we include, only 14 got a positive Index. The six at the top all expanded during the latest financial period, whether that be by acquisition, branch openings or a bit of both. Of those top six companies, five are independently owned. Apparently, when the going gets tough, the tough focus on what they do best, on knowing and understanding their customers, working with their suppliers and remembering that so much of what makes this sector tick is down to the right people, treated in the right way. Who knew? BMJ


Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ


“


There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was ignorant of its worth.


Charles Dickens CONTENTS”


4 Newsround What’s happening this month


8 News Extra Siniat’s new plasterboard factory is open


12 People Who’ve moving where


13 Business helpdesk The Government’s housing plans dissected


14 Viewpoint Our guest columnists


16 Rising Star Looking at the next generation 18 Merchant Focus


Employee ownership models are increasingly popular


20 Merchant Focus Stark UK celebrates its 2nd birthday


22 Timber


What’s what with wood 24 Heavyside


Looking at roofing issues and ready-mixed materials for merchants


28 Rainwater Management Dealing with increasingly wet Summers


32 BMJ Industry Awards This year’s star Host announced


34 IT Technology to make showroom sales sing ADVERTISING


Group Sales Manager: Dawn Tucker 01622 699148 07934 731232 dtucker@datateam.co.uk


Media Account Executive Morgan Borthwick-Hunter mborthwick-hunter@datateam. co.uk


01622 699126


Publisher: Paul Ryder


pryder@datateam.co.uk © Datateam Business Media Ltd 2025


All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher. The title Builders Merchants Journal is registered at Stationers’ Hall. Suppliers have contributed towards production costs of some photographs in this issue.


CIRCULATION


ABC audited average circulation


July 2018-June 2019: 7,801 SUBSCRIPTIONS


UK 1 year: £97 UK, 2 years: £164 Outside UK: one year £113/$204; two years: £196/$353


36 Transport Sustainable logistics


38 BMF Industry Voice The latest from the BMF


40 Product News What’s new from suppliers


40 And Finally News and the Prize Crossword SUPPLEMENT


The Trailblazers benchmarking publication for 2025


April 2025 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3


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