par Travis Perkins (isin : GB0007739609)
Travis Perkins plc - full year results for the year to 31 December 2024
Travis Perkins (TPK)
1 April 2025
Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR)
Travis Perkins plc, the UK’s largest distributor of building materials, announces its full year results for the year to 31 December 2024
A challenging trading year
Good progress in Toolstation
Strong focus on cash generation and strengthening the balance sheet
(1) Alternative performance measures are used to describe the Group’s performance. Details of calculations can be found in the notes listed. (2) For continuing businesses only. The Toolstation France business is treated as a discontinued operation.
On 10 March 2025, Pete Redfern resigned as Chief Executive Officer as a result of ill health. The Nominations Committee has commenced a search to identify the right long term successor to Pete as CEO. Geoff Drabble, Chair of Travis Perkins, will work with the management team during the interim period to progress actions already underway to improve performance. Geoff Drabble, Chair, commented: “Since joining the Board of Travis Perkins, I have been encouraged by the breadth and depth of our market footprint, the quality and commitment of our people and the strength of our relationships within the construction industry. However, it is clear to the management team that there are a number of areas where the business needs to refocus and change the way it operates in order to better serve our customers and effectively support our suppliers. Several initial steps have been taken under Pete Redfern’s leadership to begin rebuilding trust and confidence, both internally and externally, with focused leadership roles restored in all our businesses and actions taken to re-engage and motivate our teams. These changes will make our businesses more responsive and bring them closer to our customers. Following Pete’s resignation, the priority is to ensure this work continues at pace, whilst the Nominations Committee of the Board identifies the right long-term successor. Whilst uncertainty remains regarding the strength and timing of a recovery in UK construction activity, with more resources re-deployed into customer-facing roles, the Group is now better placed to benefit from returning demand. This will be supported by disciplined capital allocation, focused on upgrading and protecting our core competitive advantages, and a clear customer-focused strategy owned by the leaders of the business. I am confident that this approach will provide attractive returns for shareholders over the medium-term." Analyst Presentation Management are hosting a results presentation at 8.30am. For details of the event please contact the Travis Perkins Investor Relations team as below. The presentation will also be available via a listen-only webcast - please register at the following link: https://travis-perkins-2024-fy-results.open-exchange.net/ Enquiries:
Cautionary Statement: This announcement contains “forward-looking statements” with respect to Travis Perkins’ financial condition, results of operations and business and details of plans and objectives in respect to these items. Forward-looking statements are sometimes, but not always, identified by their use of a date in the future or such words as “anticipates”, “aims”, “due”, “could”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “expects”, “believes”, “seeks”, “intends”, “plans”, “potential”, “reasonably possible”, “targets”, “goal” or “estimates”, and words of similar meaning. By their very nature forward-looking statements are inherently unpredictable, speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the Principal Risks and Uncertainties disclosed in the Group’s Annual Report and as updated in this statement, changes in the economies and markets in which the Group operates; changes in the legislative, regulatory and competition frameworks in which the Group operates; changes in the capital markets from which the Group raises finance; the impact of legal or other proceedings against or which affect the Group; and changes in interest and exchange rates. All forward-looking statements, made in this announcement or made subsequently, which are attributable to Travis Perkins or any other member of the Group or persons acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referred to above. No assurances can be given that the forward-looking statements in this document will be realised. Subject to compliance with applicable law and regulations, Travis Perkins does not intend to update these forward-looking statements and does not undertake any obligation to do so. Nothing in this document should be regarded as a profits forecast.
Without prejudice to the above: (a) neither Travis Perkins plc nor any other member of the Group, nor persons acting on their behalf shall otherwise have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from the use of the information contained within this announcement; and (b) neither Travis Perkins plc nor any other member of the Group, nor persons acting on their behalf makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained within this announcement. This announcement is current as of 1st April 2025, the date on which it is given. This announcement has not been and will not be updated to reflect any changes since that date. Past performance of the shares of Travis Perkins plc cannot be relied upon as a guide to the future performance of the shares of Travis Perkins plc. 2024 performance2024 was a challenging year for the Group with revenue of £4,607m down (4.7)% year-on-year, driven by the Merchanting segment through a combination of price deflation, reduced demand across the UK construction market and increased competitive intensity. Toolstation continued to make good progress with robust revenue growth in both the UK and Benelux reflecting ongoing maturity benefits. Adjusted operating profit excluding property profits of £141m was £(42)m, or (23)%, lower than prior year. Around £(39)m of the profit decline resulted from lower sales volumes whilst approximately £(56)m was attributable to lower gross margins, driven by price deflation and increased competitive intensity. Against this backdrop management took actions to reduce total overheads by £53m compared to prior year. Restructuring actions taken at the end of 2023 reduced overheads by £35m with a further £36m of savings on discretionary spend and £9m savings from the strategic review actions taken in Toolstation Benelux. Offset against this was around £(27)m of overhead inflation, primarily on payroll and property costs.
Rebuilding the business
Building on the Group’s inherent strengths The Group has strong fundamentals built up over decades as the largest UK building materials distributor, namely:
Attractive long-term structural drivers
The Group operates in a market with attractive long-term structural drivers - in particular a shortage of UK housing, an ageing UK housing stock and a need to decarbonise the UK’s built environment. These structural drivers have taken greater prominence in the key priorities and policy setting of the new Labour Government, which has set ambitious housebuilding targets and see construction-led activity as a major pillar to kickstarting economic growth.
However, the Group has become distracted in a challenging market
The Group’s key end markets have seen a progressive deterioration in demand over the past three years driven by high inflation, rising interest rates and weak consumer confidence. During this period, the Group’s approach to capital allocation and overhead management has diluted returns, exacerbated profit decline and resulted in leverage increasing beyond the Group’s target range. During this period, the business has seen significant personnel change at all levels of the business, particularly in some key customer-facing roles. Building an entrepreneurial, customer-centric business Over recent years, the Group has become too centralised which has increased costs and complexity. Work is now underway to transform the operating model to create a business based around empowered local branches, backed by high quality support functions providing insight and driving the benefits of national scale. This cultural shift will bring the business closer to its customers and enhance service levels.
Balance sheet The Group has made good progress on actions to strengthen the balance sheet during the year, with overall net debt reducing by £77m and net debt before leases reducing by £123m. Accordingly, despite the further reduction in adjusted operating profit, net debt / adjusted EBITDA has also reduced to 2.5x. Management remain focused on returning leverage to the Group’s target range of 1.5 - 2.0x as soon as is practically possible. Dividend The Board is recommending a final dividend of 9.0 pence per share (2023: 5.5 pence per share) to give a full-year dividend of 14.5 pence per share (2023: 18.0 pence per share), in line with the Group’s policy to pay a dividend of 30-40% of adjusted earnings. The dividend will be paid on 29 May 2025 to shareholders on the register as at close of business on 22 April 2025. Current trading and outlookThe Group has experienced a mixed start to 2025. Trading conditions have continued to be challenging in our Merchanting businesses with pricing now stabilised but volumes in modest decline. By contrast, Toolstation has started the year more positively and continues to deliver good growth. It is encouraging to see a more robust demand backdrop for some elements of the construction market. However, the pace and rate of an overall recovery in construction activity levels remains uncertain and will likely need further cuts to interest rates and an uplift to consumer confidence levels to stimulate a meaningful increase in demand. In recognition of this backdrop and the operational turnaround challenges the Group currently faces, the Board expects FY25 adjusted operating profit excluding property profits to be broadly in line with FY24 (excluding property profits). The Board remains confident in the inherent strengths of the Group and its market-leading position in the building materials sector. By investing in its core competitive advantages with a clear focus on its customers' needs, the Group will start to deliver an improved financial performance and create attractive returns for shareholders over the medium-term. Technical guidanceThe Group’s technical guidance for 2025 is as follows:
Implementation of new Oracle finance system On 1 July 2024, the Group implemented a new Oracle Financial ERP system which represented a significant step forward for the Group in modernising its core technology platform. Oracle has strengthened financial controls, enabled new standardised processes and enhanced stock visibility and reporting, all of which will deliver long-term benefits for the Group.
With this being the first major systems upgrade for several decades, the Group has inevitably experienced some challenges with the adoption of new processes. This has translated into some limited customer facing challenges in branch and disruption associated with some supplier payments and collection of customer debt, which in turn has had an impact on trading operations. It has also resulted in a working capital outflow during the year, estimated to be around £50m.
The Group is confident that as these processes become familiar and are readily adopted that this disruption will ease and the working capital position will normalise throughout 2025. Adjusting itemsThere were £139m of adjusting items in the year (2023: £27m) as set out below:
The 2024 branch-level impairment review identified 209 branches where the carrying value of the branch’s assets was below the value of the discounted future cash flows generated from those assets. The total impairment recognised in relation to these branches is £63m. In the majority of cases the branches are expected to deliver a positive contribution in 2025 with the vast majority delivering a positive contribution in the future, based on cautious financial planning assumptions. Management's view is that this reflects the under-utilisation of these assets during the period under review as a result of cyclically depressed market volumes and that these branches will remain an important part of the Group's future network strategy. An impairment of £33m has been recognised following the annual impairment review of the Staircraft business as a result of challenging trading conditions in its markets. The supply chain consolidation charge relates to the closure of a number of distribution centres in Toolstation, Benchmarx and the Group timber supply chain. The costs relate primarily to stock write-downs, dilapidations and other property-related costs. Restructuring charges relate to actions taken to reduce central and regional headcount. The Benchmarx closures charge reflects the costs, primarily redundancy, of closing 39 standalone branches in February 2024. The prior year charge reflected fixed asset impairments associated with those sites. PropertyThe Group generated property profits of £11m in the year, with £62m of cash proceeds. Segmental performanceMerchanting
Note - all figures above exclude property profits
The Group’s Merchanting businesses saw revenue fall by (6.2)% in the year as a result of price deflation and declining volumes, arising from the depressed levels of UK construction activity and an intensely competitive backdrop. Adjusted operating profit reduced by (29.7)% to £149m, reflecting the high operational gearing of these businesses. Operating profit declined to £20m from £199m due to these factors and adjusting items of £133m relating to impairments in Staircraft and certain Merchanting branches and restructuring actions. Price deflation, a significant factor in H1 due to the rollover of prior year timber price reductions in particular, eased in H2. However, volumes worsened as the year progressed, in part driven by project postponements caused by general election uncertainty and the delayed government budget. The private domestic RMI market, the Merchanting segment's largest end market which is primarily serviced by the Group’s General Merchant business, remained depressed throughout the year. The private domestic new-build market, primarily serviced by Keyline and CCF working with national and regional housebuilders, also saw another notable drop in activity. The Merchanting segment’s other end markets – commercial, industrial and public sector – saw mixed levels of demand with uncertainty surrounding government departmental budgets persisting until after the late October budget announcement. This created hesitancy to invest and impacted demand in the second half of the year, particularly in BSS which serves these markets. Six new Merchant branches were opened during the year as the Group continues to selectively add new branches to its network. Five of the sites were new General Merchant branches, serving major conurbations including Leeds, Edinburgh, Derby and Coventry, with a new CCF branch also opened in Norwich. 51 Merchant branches were closed during the year with the majority being 42 Benchmarx standalone branches. The Benchmarx decision continues the Group’s strategy of offering an integrated proposition within destination General Merchant branches. The remaining nine branches closed comprised eight General Merchant branches and Keyline Kirby with these sites deemed to be poorly located or requiring significant investment and where trade could be transferred to an alternative nearby br |