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(Alliance News) - Travis Perkins PLC on Tuesday said its Toolstation business swung to a loss in the first half of 2022, as the pandemic boost for do-it-yourself projects fell away.
Shares in the Northampton, England-based building supplies retailer were down 8.1% to 947.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
Revenue in the six months to June 30 climbed 10% to GBP2.54 billion, compared to GBP2.30 billion the year before. However, pretax profit fell by 6.2% to GBP136.6 million from GBP145.7 million.
Revenue in the Merchanting division climbed 13% to GBP2.16 billion, whilst operating profit jumped by 9% to GBP170 million.
In its Toolstation arm, however, revenue dropped by 4.6% to GBP376 million. It also swung to a pretax loss of GBP8 million from a GBP10 million profit the year before.
Travis Perkins explained that Toolstation's customer base "normalised" back to its core trade customers during the period, since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions back in 2021.
The company raised its interim dividend by 4.2% to 12.5p per share, up from 12.0p in 2021.
Looking ahead, Travis Perkins expects to deliver a full-year performance broadly in line with market expectations.
Chief Executive Officer Nick Roberts said: "Whilst we are cognisant of the current macroeconomic uncertainty, our diverse end market exposure, broad trade customer base and strong balance sheet provide resilience against changes in market conditions.
"The strong performance of our Merchant businesses is set to continue into the second half, driven by our agility in managing inflation and by our leading service propositions," Roberts added.
By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com
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