LEAGUE TABLES
TRAILBLAZERS
Gross Margin Growth
While the gross margins in the previous table look healthy enough – and the average seems to be on a par with a decade ago – this table tells a rather different story. Exactly one-third of the merchants listed managed to grow their gross margins in the latest financial period; exactly two- thirds did not. Ignoring the top three and the bottom three in order to concentrate on the middle ground, the picture gets worse: Among those who improved their gross margin the average gain was 1.5% – among those who didn’t, the average decline was 3.8%. These numbers are worrying rather than frightening, but they confirm one of two trends: either that suppliers’ prices are rising and merchants are struggling to pass the increases on, or that merchants are discounting heavily in an effort to make up for declining sales.
Operating Margin
This looks better. BMJ has always taken the view that operating margin is one of the key ratios, so the fact that 47 of the UK’s top 54 merchants all ended their latest financial reporting period in the black is reassuring. But while the figures are positive, they are pretty modest: the average across all merchants is 2.5%. and excluding the top and bottom 10 to focus on the middle ground improves the average only slightly, to 2.7%. The comparable figures five years ago (pre-Covid) were 3.9% and 4.0%. Draw your own conclusions.
GROSS MARGIN GROWTH: UNDER PRESSURE
1. Markovitz
2. MGM Timber 3. Covers
4. Howarth Timber
5. County Building Supplies 6. Bradford & Sons 7. PGR Timber 8. JT Dove
9. EH Smith 10. Lawsons 11. Lords
12. Sydenhams 13. Frank Key 14. Kellaway
15. Alsford Timber
16. UK Plumbing Supplies 17. James Burrell 18. Browns
19. Champion Timber 20. John A Stephens 21. IBMG
22. Boys & Boden 23. Turnbull
24. Myers Building Supplies 25. Nicholls & Clarke 26. John Nicholls 27. Williams 28. Strukta
29. Haldane Shiells 30. Beggs & Partners 31. Beatsons
32. Builder Depot 33. Elliott Bros 34. MKM
35. Travis Perkins
36. National Timber Group 37. Huws Gray
38. Beesley & Fildes 39. JT Atkinson 40. C&W Berry 41. LBS
42. Robert Price & Sons 43. Walter Tipper 44. Joseph Parr
45. Grafton-Selco 46. Wolseley UK
47. James Hargreaves 48. MP Moran 49. Carver
BMJ LEAGUE TABLES SPONSORED BY
50. Highbourne 51. Robert Pochin 52. Brewer 53. Stark
3.9% 3.8% 3.3% 3.2% 3.0% 2.8% 2.3% 2.0% 1.6% 1.5% 1.2% 1.1%
0.9% 0.8% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2%
-0.0% -0.2% -0.9% -1.1% -1.3% -1.8% -1.9% -2.0% -2.0% -2.0% -2.0% -2.2% -2.5% -2.9% -2.9% -2.9% -3.0% -3.2% -3.3% -3.4% -4.2% -4.6% -5.0% -5.0% -5.3% -5.5% -5.6% -5.6% -6.3% -7.1% -7.4% -8.9% -9.8% -12.7% -38.8% -45.8%
Source: BMJ analysis of filed company accounts 8 A supplement to builders merchants journal April 2025
OPERATING MARGINS: NOT WHAT THEY WERE
1. PGR Timber
2. James Hargreaves 3. C&W Berry 4. Strukta
5. Myers Building Supplies 6. Walter Tipper
7. Robert Price & Sons 8. Beggs & Partners 9. Robert Pochin 10. Joseph Parr 11. Turnbull 12. MKM
13. MGM Timber 14. Boys & Boden 15. JT Dove
16. Frank Key 17. Sydenhams
18. UK Plumbing Supplies 19. MP Moran 20. Kellaway
21. Bradford & Sons 22. JT Atkinson 23. Elliott Bros 24. Covers 25. Carver
26. Beatsons 27. Markovitz
28. John Nicholls 29. Haldane Shiells 30. Builder Depot 31. Travis Perkins 32. LBS
33. Lords 34. Brewer
35. Champion Timber 36. Browns
37. Huws Gray 38. Wolseley UK 39. James Burrell 40. Highbourne 41. Grafton-Selco 42. Lawsons
43. Howarth Timber 44. EH Smith
45. Alsford Timber
46. County Building Supplies 47. Williams
48. Beesley & Fildes 49. John A Stephens 50. Nicholls & Clarke
51. National Timber Group 52. IBMG 53. Stark
11.4% 9.0% 8.4% 7.7% 6.8% 5.2% 5.0% 5.0% 4.9% 4.8% 4.7% 4.5% 4.4% 4.4% 4.3% 3.9% 3.9% 3.8% 3.6% 3.6% 3.4% 3.4% 3.3% 3.2% 3.1% 3.0% 2.6% 2.4% 2.4% 2.4% 2.3% 2.1% 2.0% 1.8% 1.8% 1.5% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.3% 1.1%
0.9% 0.7% 0.7% 0.6% 0.6% 0.5% -1.9% -2.1% -2.3% -3.4% -4.1% -9.4%
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