Travis sees higher revenues

The builders' merchant and DIY retailer Travis Perkins posted a 5.9 per cent rise in revenues for the first four months of the year yesterday as it drew steam from market share gains.

But the group said it would not be buying many Focus DIY outlets after the rival firm went into administration, with chief executive Geoff Cooper explaining: "Any DIY retailer that's going to be acquiring space needs to really cherry-pick the very top performing branches, so I wouldn't expect us to go and buy a whole load of Focus stores."