Benchmark SALES GROWTH: SCREWFIX LEADS THE WAY 5yr average 1. Screwfi x
2. The Range 3. Toolstation
4. Home Bargains 5. Al Murad
6. Charlies Stores 7. Leekes
8. Tile Giant 9. Axminster 10. Wickes 11. Taskers
12. Topps Tiles 13. Argos
14. Robert Dyas 15. Wilkinson 16. B&Q
17. Trago Mills
18. Gardiner Haskins 19. B&M
20. Homebase Latest year
21.6% 16.9% 17.9% 13.8% 17.3% 16.5% 15.2% 14.7% 9.1%
1.7%
8.5% 5.0% 7.0% 6.5% 6.2%
-6.1% 1.3% -8.1%
4.9% 1.9% 4.5%
-1.5%
- 1 year 23.5%
13.3% 14.2% 16.6% 4.6%
-2 years - 3 years
26.5% 25.6% 19.3% 20.2% 14.9% 20.0% 8.9% 15.3%
13.0%
10.0% 3.7% 5.6% 17.4% 10.6% 2.9%
6.4% 16.4% 15.1%
10.9% 13.2% 3.4%
9.8% 6.2% 7.0% 9.1% 10.6%
2.3% 1.2%
4.1% 2.4% -1.5% 1.3% 8.7% 2.1% -2.9% 1.7% 0.4% 1.3% -1.4%
-3.8% -5.5%
-1.6% 0.3% -2.0% n/a n/a
Source: DIY Week analysis of fi led company accounts S
tarting at the foot of this table, we can’t calculate an accurate fi ve-year average sales gain for B&M because its 2013/14 fi gures covered a 65-week
period; but its average for the past three years was 19.9%, which strongly suggests that it ought to be near the very top of the table. Homebase, of course, is impossible to analyse: after Bunnings’ catastrophic stewardship came to an end, it fi led unaudited accounts for a 16-month period. But given that it was already in negative growth before Bunnings came along, it’s probably safe to assume that the foot of the table is where it belongs. At the top, meanwhile, there are four companies which have all achieved a double-digit fi ve-year average: Screwfi x, The Range, Toolstation, and Home Bargains. Their performance is impressive, but we don’t know how much of its organic – sales growth from established stores – and how much is simply the result of opening more and
6 DIY WEEK THE DIY MARKET SUPPLEMENT
more new branches. For readers with long memories, it’s reminiscent of the DIY superstore explosion of the 1980s, when B&Q, Homebase, Do It All, Texas Homecare and the rest were opening new stores as fast as they possibly could, and nobody was paying too much attention to the underlying like-for-like sales. But then, money was cheap, houses were aff ordable, and home ownership was rising sharply: all factors which drove customers into the DIY stores. Nowadays it’s a very diff erent story. Even among the fastest-growing businesses, it’s noticeable that sales growth has slowed down: the numbers in the ‘latest year’ column tend to be less impressive than those of the previous few years. Screwfi x’s growth rate has slowed from a peak of 26.5% to 16.9% in the latest year, The Range from 23.1% to 13.8%, and Toolstation from 20% to 14.2%. After three years of growth between 6.2% and 9%, Wickes recorded a 1.9% fall in its latest accounts. B&Q, still the DIY market leader but no longer the imperious
market dictator of the late 20th century, has recorded a sales decline in three of the past fi ve years. On the bright side, the Benchmark
survey includes a number of privately- owned businesses which actually aren’t doing too badly. Tile specialist Al Murad’s growth rate has slowed down sharply, but it has still managed a fi ve-year average of 9.1%. Two Welsh chains, Charlies Stores and Leekes, have recorded averages of 8.5% and 7% respectively. The tool specialist Axminster is on 6.2%, and the Liverpool superstore chain Taskers is on 4.5%. As with the chains at the top of the table, we don’t know how much of this growth is organic and how much is driven by physical expansion, but we suspect that much of it is organic: smaller private businesses tend to be run by people who are close to the customers, and who are quick to respond to changes in demand. And an average annual growth rate of anything between 4% and 9%... the management at B&Q and Homebase would kill for that.
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-5.9% 16.7% n/a
7.3% 2.8% 7.0% -3.3% -0.4% -2.8% 18.4% n/a
2.0%
-4.4% 1.0% 3.3% 1.1%
-4.9% 0.5% -2.1% 24.7% -3.5%
-0.5%
-4 years 15.2%
23.1% 21.1% 20.7%
14.2% 12.1% 18.0% 6.5% 4.4% 4.4% -0.4% 1.9% 9.8% 3.2% 8.6%
4.8% 1.1%
1.4% -1.2% 2.1% -1.3% -3.5% -4.1% n/a
4.5%
2019 THE DIY MARKET SUPPLEMENT
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