LEAGUE TABLES
Sales Per Head
There are some massive variations in staff productivity, from Brown’s £574,000 per head to Nicholls & Clarke’s £142,000. But some things don’t change: 10 years ago the high and low figures were £434,000 and £119,000 – lower numbers, but a very similar ratio. The industry average then, excluding the top five and bottom five outliers, was £211,000 – now it’s £269,000. Does that signal greater efficiency, or price inflation, or a combination of the two? Either way, the numbers suggest that the merchant industry continues to manage its manpower effectively.
Operating Profit Per Head
Once again, we eliminate the top five and bottom five outliers, to give us a picture of the middle ground – and that produces an average operating profit per head of staff of £3,640. A decade ago the comparable figure was £10,100. How long will it take the industry to get back to those heady levels?
SALES/HEAD:
1. Browns 2. Lords
3. Highbourne 4. Builder Depot 5. EH Smith
6. Wolseley UK 7. PGR Timber
8. UK Plumbing Supplies 9. Robert Pochin
10. James Hargreaves 11. Markovitz 12. MKM
13. James Burrell 14. Williams
15. MGM Timber 16. John Nicholls 17. Joseph Parr 18. Beatsons 19. IBMG
20. Beggs & Partners 21. Elliott Bros 22. Turnbull
23. Huws Gray 24. JT Dove 25. Stark
26. Travis Perkins 27. JT Atkinson
28. Bradford & Sons 29. C&W Berry 30. Strukta
31. MP Moran 32. Alsford Timber
33. Howarth Timber Supplies 34. Robert Price & Sons 35. John A Stephens 36. Haldane Shiells 37. Lawsons
38. County Building Supplies 39. Myers Building Supplies 40. Kellaway 41. Selco 42. Covers 43. Carver
44. Walter Tipper
45. Beesley & Fildes 46. LBS
47. Champion Timber 48. Sydenhams 49. Brewer
50. Boys & Boden 51. Frank Key
52. Nicholls & Clarke
£574k £462k £426k £411k £398k £389k £377k £364k £354k £349k £346k £322k £316k £311k £307k £307k £297k £293k £288k £288k £287k £282k £279k £271k £290k £262k £257k £256k £248k £243k £237k £233k £233k £232k £230k £227k £222k £222k £222k £215k £207k £204k £201k £197k £191k £190k £183k £182k £182k £174k £160k £142k
PROFIT/HEAD: NOT WHAT IT WAS
1. PGR Timber
2. James Hargreaves 3. Beatsons 4. Strutka
5. Robert Pochin
6. UK Plumbing Supplies 7. JT Atkinson
8. Beggs & Partners 9. MKM
10. C&W Berry
11. Travis Perkins 12. Huws Gray 13. MGM Timber 14. Browns
15. Boys & Boden 16. Bradford & Sons 17. JT Dove
18. Myers Building Supplies 19. Haldane Shiells 20. John Nicholls 21. Builder Depot 22. Elliott Bros 23. EH Smith
24. Robert Price & Sons 25. Wolseley UK 26. Turnbull 27. Carver 28. Lords
29. Walter Tipper 30. Sydenhams 31. Markovitz 32. Selco
33. Brewer
34. Frank Key 35. Lawsons
36. Highbourne 37. MP Moran 38. LBS
39. Alsford Timber 40. Champion Timber 41. Kellaway 42. Joseph Parr
43. Howarth Timber Supplies 44. Nicholls & Clarke
45. County Building Supplies 46. Beesley & Fildes 47. James Burrell 48. Williams 49. Covers
50. John A Stephens 51. IBMG 52. Stark
£27,351 £25,176 £19,373 £17,433 £15,877 £12,491 £11,611 £11,250 £10,845 £9,363 £8,628 £8,390 £8,205 £8,090 £7,918 £7,862 £7,854 £7,114
£6,942 £6,720 £6,491 £6,460 £5,540 £5,393 £5,320 £5,063 £4,917 £4,534 £4,216 £3,704 £3,604 £3,106 £2,239 £2,134 £1,969 £1,804 £1,762 £1,544 £502 £396 (£7)
(£55)
(£1,894) (£2,449) (£2,468) (£2,918) (£3,684) (£9,191) (£9,287) (£10,676) (£71,585) n/a
8
A supplement to builders merchants journal April 2026
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