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A mention online in Investors Chronicle. There is presumably more - I do not subscribe.
SIG increases spend to get its house in order
Rebuild of UK distribution arm looks to put decision-making power back in branches
September 22, 2021
By Michael Fahy

* Cash outflows recorded as it secures supplies in tight marketplace
* Improving margins will feed into full-year profit, finance director says
SIG (SHI) is no stranger to restructuring. The Sheffield-based distributor of building and roofing materials has been through about a decade of them. The problem is, they haven’t been very successful. A focus on selling off unprofitable businesses and driving down costs led to it centralising operations and squeezing suppliers to achieve better deals. Its top line flatlined and, although it had some profitable years, the returns began to dissipate. “As everyone knows, you can’t run a business where you’re restructuring and shrinking the whole time. Eventually you just run out of road,” chief executive Steve Francis candidly put it.

I suppose a point, if there is much of one to make, is that Wickes is less seasonal, and less reliant on discretionary spend.

About £25m was said to be forecast operating profit, but today
we are told analysts at Jefferies raised their estimates for SIG's 2021
profit to £32 million pounds from £25m.,predicting stronger profit margins from France and Germany. ( compared with a loss of £43 million pounds in 2020.)

But there you go.

There was nothing in today's 6 month results that holders should not have been expecting - perfectly in accord with the trading update, and forecast ahead of expectations for the year.That seemed to be broadly an accepted position until mid morning, when the shares were sold down onwards. I confess to being bemused though noting the reasonable, cautious outlook, indicating that though confident of full year performance, current ahead of expectations forecast may not be possible in a worsening situation -
"We are anticipating a continued impact from material shortages, which could be more significant than in H1, and which could persist for an extended period. Driver shortages have also affected the supply chain in recent weeks, notably in the UK.
 
Given these prevailing macro-economic uncertainties, we retain a cautious view on market conditions for the remainder of the second half at this stage. However, the strong results in H1, the solid trading seen in July/August and continuing robust demand, together with the effectiveness of our supply chain management and commercial agility, gives the Board confidence for the full year performance. Providing the disruption from material shortages and haulage constraints does not worsen in coming months, full year underlying operating profit is now anticipated to be ahead of prior expectations."

Is that 11% drop material from 11am?

https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/builders-merchants-contnue-to-revive

Benefit from regulatory changes

Charlie Campbell, an analyst at Liberum, believes SIG is extremely well placed to benefit from the significant changes being made to building regulations.

“The regulatory tailwinds materially improve SIG’s growth outlook, in our view, as they should drive higher demand and help SIG to achieve its growth strategy,” he said.

Improving the energy efficiency of new buildings is already a key priority, he pointed out, but the performance of existing buildings is also expected to come under increasing scrutiny.

“SIG’s core products, insulation and roofing, are critical to improving the energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings,” he added.

Well, the ones that count are them out there buying and selling, and on balance so far they seem to like it. See how we go this week.

Just musing, it's a pretty obvious distinction really, based on my experience of local ones. Wickes always seems to have what appear to be more intent 'workers' knocking about, vans and such, with B and Q with more people wandering up and down the aisles looking for something.

Investors not liking Kingfisher B and Q results today.
Just in passing, in the context of business models, Liberum draw a distinction.
"Like other DIY retailers, Wickes has been investing heavily to improve its ecommerce operation and boost usage of click-and-collect, which eliminates the significant cost of “last mile” delivery.
However, compared with market leader B&Q it has a smaller product range focused on year-round essentials rather than rotating seasonal offers such as garden furniture or Christmas decorations. It also derives a greater proportion of sales from own-label products.
Wayne Browne, an analyst at Liberum, said this gave the company better operating profit margins than peers and meant it could operate from smaller, cheaper stores and sell stock more quickly."

Includes a positive glimpse into the start of H2.
"Trading in July/August remained solid, strengthening the Board's confidence in full year outlook despite caution over ongoing impact of material shortages.

As promised in trading update. Further progress expected over remainder of year. Recovery company on track.

Return to Growth strategy gathers momentum: UK profitable, and France and Poland delivering record first halves
· Group like-for-like H1 sales up 33% on prior year, and 1% up on 2019. Group sales excluding the UK Distribution business up 8% on 2019, with UK Distribution itself now back on track
· Strong gross margin management: H1 gross margin of 25.9%, 100bps higher than H1 2020
· Impact of material shortages and cost price inflation successfully managed to date, with minimal impact in H1
· £13.6m underlying operating profit in H1 (H1 2020: £42.9m loss). Underlying profit before tax ("PBT") of £3.0m (H1 2020: £53.8m loss)
· Continued balance sheet strength provides confidence to invest in growth strategy and to manage near term supply challenges. Net debt in line with expectations after H1 seasonal working capital increase, at £289.4m post IFRS 16 (H1 2020: £341.8m; FY2020: £238.2m) and £57.5m pre IFRS16 (H1 2020: £90.0m; FY2020: £4.1m)
· Trading in July/August remained solid, strengthening the Board's confidence in full year outlook despite caution over ongoing impact of material shortages and cost price inflation
· Continued profit improvement expected in H2 2021 and full year underlying operating profit anticipated to be ahead of prior expectations

My understanding also. What we did do was get rid of a lot of sellers intent on going sometime.

And it will open wherever the market dictates tomorrow.

Is that not the end of day UT trade, ie matching buyers and sellers at auction, shown as a single trade.

Comment from Liberum.
Wayne Brown, research analyst at Liberum said: ‘we continue to see Wickes as one of the best ways to play the UK repair maintenance and improvement trade…the shares remain far too cheap, for the high quality growth, upgrade momentum and strong cash generation on offer.’

Yes. Like you, I'm one of those anticipating a re-rate.

Pootle along into Tuesday now. See how things are going after their last.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/SHI/trading-update-xfpb7m6t0yv780u.html

They are obviously right about sufficient support. Say what you want about analysts, but they have plenty to work with on a valuation and target perspective, several of them ranging from 282p to 420p. And throw in the directors buys at £2.50. Just a bit of a repetitive comment on what those who are paid to know are thinking.

Analysts at Peel Hunt increased the target price to 320p from 310p and nudged up their adjusted profit before tax estimate to £67mln from £65mln previously.

seem to have raised from 310 to 320.

“At 238p, analysts at Peel Hunt said Wickes shares ‘continue to look too cheap to us’ and set a target price of 320p.”

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-9997043/Wickes-shrugs-supply-chain-woes-sales-rise-third.html