Wickes hails ‘continued momentum’ despite dip in sales

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Wickes has hailed a “promising start” to its financial year despite reporting a dip in sales.

Wickes Crawley fascia

Wickes said like-for-like sales were down 0.6% during the first 20 weeks of its fiscal year

The DIY chain, which floated in April 2021 after being spun off from former owner Travis Perkins, said like-for-like sales inched down 0.6% during the first 20 weeks of its fiscal year, compared with the same period 12 months ago.

Core like-for-likes fell at the sharper rate of 7.2% but delivered Do It For Me (DIFM) sales surged 30.9%.

On a three-year basis against pre-Covid levels, total group sales were up 22.4%.

In a trading update filed ahead of its AGM later today, Wickes said trade customer order books were “at record levels”. It has added more than 40,000 new customers to its TradePro scheme in the year to date.

The business admitted that inflationary pressures had continued to build, but said it was “managing this responsibly while maintaining our leading price position”.

Wickes boss David Wood said: “I am delighted to report continued momentum and a promising start to the year where we continue to take market share. This performance is testament to the strength of our uniquely balanced business – across trade, DIY and DIFM – and it has been achieved against strong prior-year comparatives.

“I am particularly proud of our long-term performance, with sales remaining significantly ahead of pre-lockdown levels.

“Our growth levers are delivering strong returns and we are excited about our plans to optimise our store estate with refits and new stores. Looking ahead, while we remain mindful of the uncertain macroeconomic environment, we continue to be confident of the opportunities available to Wickes within the large and growing home-improvement market.”